There are Sailing Ships that Pass
by coinoperatedbecca
Summary: Complete. A follow-up to The Light at the End. Years later, Scout Finch wants to know about her mother. (A bit AU, set from 1933-1936).
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I am merely taking some creative liberty with the wonderful characters produced by Harper Lee! The title was inspired by a line in Iron and Wine's song "Passing Afternoon" (it's a beautiful one if you haven't heard of it!).

A/N: I did some quick thinking when it came to this. I figured if I was going to post the follow-up, I might as well post it sooner rather than later since it'll be a multi-chaptered fic. I've figured since I have it planned out I might as well bite the bullet and post it. I also figured I should make something clear real quick: I consider TKaM and _Watchman_ completely separate books, and while there are some facts that coincide with _Watchman_ in both my previous fic and this fic, this will follow TKaM (though it's obviously AU), it's just easier that way. I feel obliged to mention that Louise and Jack are just friends (I feel like they would both enjoy torturing their families together). This will also probably jump through large amounts of time fairly quickly, just so the story doesn't get too out of hand.

-o-o-o-

The first person Louise Green (nee Graham) had decided to see when she came back to the United States was one Jack Finch. She wasn't quite sure why she had decided to see him of all people, but once she found herself in Nashville, she knew that there was going to be no turning back. Still excruciatingly tired from her flight, she found a taxi cab and gave the driver the address she had written in her tattered address book. It wasn't until she actually arrived at the apartment building that she wondered if he still lived here or not. Drained from the day's excursions, she decided that she was simply going to buy herself a Coke and a ham sandwich from the drug store across the street and sit on his step until he (or anyone really) came by.

She wasn't sure how long she had sat there, dozing off and sitting uncomfortably on her luggage with her half-eaten sandwich placed in her lap, but when he arrived at the building with a cat on a leash she thought she was hallucinating. "What in God's name are you doin'?" She asked, almost impatiently as he looked at her with surprise.

"I feel like I am more justified in asking that question." He replied as the cat started to sniff around her.

"What is _that_?"

" _She_ is Rose Aylmer." He said proudly.

"I really don't get you one bit."

"Are you going to finish that sandwich?"

"Why?"

"Rose is hungry."

She scowled at him as she took the ham sandwich out of its wrapping and placed it down on the step for the cat. Jack coughed. "What?" She asked impatiently.

"Hold it out for her to eat it."

"She's a cat, Jack."

"Doesn't mean she isn't a lady."

"You're awful." She said as she picked up the sandwich and held it to the cat's face. After a moment of contemplating it, the cat took a small bite and chewed. Louise stared at the cat, almost in disgust. "Are you kiddin' me?" She asked.

"I'm surprised you don't have a different accent by now." Jack said as he sat down on the step next to her. She scowled again.

"Edie always says you can take the girl outta the South, but not the South outta the girl."

"Did they make fun of you wherever you were?"

"They made fun of me _everywhere_ I was." She smiled. "I loved it."

Two years ago, Louise was living in Montgomery with her husband and found that she had become absolutely miserable (though her marriage hadn't started off that way). She married Phil because she thought she loved him and that maybe he loved her, too, but once they were married and actually living with one another she found it was horribly different. When they were courting he was jovial and spontaneous and she thought that every day would be some great adventure (she cringes now when she thinks about how she was so naïve). Once she had to spend every day with him she noticed how moody, solemn and downright depressed he was. She tried to help him, she really did, but nothing she did worked. The first time he tried to kill himself, just one year into their marriage, she devoted her life to helping him but her efforts were done in vain. It was almost as if he didn't _want_ to be helped or to not be depressed. Then they were on the verge of divorce when he killed himself, just one room away from Louise. Louise was only thirty-three. Her mother, in an attempt to make Louise not feel as bad about the situation, forced a chuckle and had told her: "at least you're a widow rather than a divorced woman, it makes you less tainted." If only Edie knew part of the reason why Phil died was because of the divorce.

Almost as soon as Phil was cremated, Louise packed most of her belongings, sold the rest and bought a one-way ticket to France. In her youth, she had always joked about being a spinster and traveling around Europe living out of her suitcase. She decided that since she wasn't getting any younger, and there wasn't anything binding her to Alabama anymore, she might as well do what she always said she was going to.

Sometimes as she traveled around Europe, a stranger to literally everyone she came across, she would pretend her sister was making the journey with her. She would tell waiters and hairdressers and locals and tourists and anyone who would listen that it was such a shame that her sister had decided to stay in the hotel, or go her own way, because she would've envied what Louise was doing. She would pretend that at night she would be returning to the hotel to share with her sister the events of the day, when in all honesty she was returning to an empty room.

It had been four years since Jean had died. _Four years_. To Louise, it still felt as fresh every day. She remembered being at home when Atticus phoned from Maycomb himself. He had found her on the porch, dead of an apparent heart attack. Just like their older sister Charlotte, their daddy, and his daddy before him. Sometimes, when Louise would lay in bed, she would wonder if her heart would give out on her, too. It wouldn't matter anymore if it did, her sister was dead and she was alone, and there was nothing really left for her.

That was a lie. There was Jean's children, Jeremy and Jean Louise. Louise knew she would probably never have children, so even before Jean died her niece and nephew had been her entire world. After Jean's death, Louise cherished them even more. From Europe she sent them each post cards and letters along with little trinkets and things that reminded her of them. They wrote back, too, telling her of their lives and saying they missed her. Louise would be lying if she said they weren't the reason why she was returning to Alabama after two years away.

"So, why are you here?" Jack asked as Rose Aylmer took another bite of the sandwich.

Louise shrugged. "Thought I'd stop by." She smirked.

"Considerin' you were in the neighborhood and all," he said.

"For some reason it was cheaper for me to get a flight into Nashville than Montgomery," she explained, although it wasn't entirely true. She still wasn't quite sure if she was ready to throw herself back into her "normal" life just yet. "I was able to get a cheap train ticket to Montgomery for tonight, though."

" _Tonight_?" He asked. "You mean you want to travel fifteen hours after flying for God knows how long?"

She shrugged. "It seemed sensible. You got a phone?"

"Why?"

"Forgot to tell Edie I was comin'." She responded. "Am I done feedin' this damn cat?"

Jack faked a gasp. "How dare you speak towards her like that?"

"You're a fool."

"You shouldn't say that if you want to use someone's phone."

"Fine. I'm sorry. May I use your phone and your bathroom?"

"I suppose. But apologize to Rose first."

"She's a damn—"

Jack cleared his throat and raised his eyebrows at Louise. Sighing, she looked down at the cat and said: "Why, my poor dear Rose Aylmer I hope you could find it in your gracious heart to forgive me." The cat yawned in response.

"She thinks you're pushy, but she forgives you all the same." Jack said, standing up. "How do you plan on gettin' to the station?"

Standing up and grabbing her suitcase Louise shrugged and said: "I reckon I'll call a cab."

"Don't be stupid I'll take you."

"I've certainly missed your charm." She rolled her eyes as he led her in his apartment.

-o-o-o-

She hadn't expected Jack to be so damn messy. His apartment wasn't filthy with dirt, but instead there were books scattered in every crevice of the apartment. The kitchen table had a creative stack of both books and empty scotch bottles. "Charming." She said flatly, rubbing her eyes. She had forgotten how tired she had been.

"The phone's over there in the hall."

She placed her luggage against a wall and walked towards the old phone. Picking up the receiver, she didn't let the operator talk before saying: "Long distance, Montgomery Alabama—please." After a few minutes she got ahold of the operator in Montgomery. Yawning, she said: "Edith Graham, 15 Sycamore Street."

Again, she waited.

After a few moments she heard the phone pick up on the other end. "Graham residence." A young voice said. It must've been Elizabeth, her sixteen-year-old niece.

In a matter of five years Edith Graham had lost her two oldest daughters. Charlotte had been the first to go. Since the death of her son Simon when he was six, Charlotte had taken to drinking and heavily medicating herself. This, combined with the dastardly heart condition that ran in the Graham family, is what led to her downfall. One night, when she was going downstairs for a cup of water her heart gave out and she fell, almost snapping her neck in the process. Considering how Simon died, Louise couldn't help but find it ironic (though she didn't tell anyone—not even Jean). Once Charlotte died Edith sold her daughter's house and took in her two granddaughters, who were eleven and seven at the time. Their father, Big Simon had moved to Mississippi shortly after his son's death, and never came back, leaving his daughters in the care of his wife's family. Feeling guilty for their mother's new burden, Jean had insisted that she and Atticus could take care of the girls. Their son was only one at the time, and it would be just like him having sisters. Edith, too stubborn to admit defeat, declined this offer. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Edith admitted to Louise that she felt responsible for Charlotte's death—she had enabled her daughter to completely shut down after Simon died, and therefore she gave herself the task of raising Clara and Elizabeth to be stronger than that.

Five years later, Eugenia Graham Finch was the next sister to go. According to Atticus, she had seemed almost completely normal that day. He had come home a little early from work to see how she was doing since she hadn't been feeling well that morning, and found her lying dead on the front porch. Louise remembered how he had shuddered when he recounted this to her, and for some reason it made her feel like a child. Sometimes, when she was feeling especially down, she thought about how he had actually cried in front of her after Jean died. It made her want to sink in a hole.

If the death of Charlotte hadn't mellowed Edie out, then the death of her Eugenia definitely did. To Louise, Edith Graham was the epitome of strength, always remaining like a statue in situations where others would certainly crumble. Although she loved her daughters, she was always tough on all of them—she was tough on everybody. To this day she was still harsh, to an extent, but losing half of her children certainly changed her. While she didn't shut down in the way that Charlotte did when she lost Simon, she certainly was different. Sometimes, Louise wished to have her stoic mother back. Edith's vulnerability showed not only what she lost, but what she could possibly lose. After all, Louise and Harriet were at risk for the same heart disease as their sisters.

"Libby," Louise coughed, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand. "It's Aunt Lou, is Edie there?"

"Are you in Nashville?" Her niece asked.

"It's a long story, but I should be in Montgomery by tomorrow."

Louise heard Libby place the receiver on the table and call for Edie. Soon after, she heard shuffling as Edie picked up the phone. "Louise?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"Edie?! Edie, is that you? I hardly recognize your voice!" Louise jeered back.

"What are you doin' in Nashville?"

"The plane fare was cheaper to go into Nashville than Montgomery," Louise explained again "I was able to get a cheap train ticket to Montgomery for tonight, though."

"When will you get here?" Her mother asked.

"I'm leavin' at seven, so I reckon around ten tomorrow."

"When did you get to Nashville?"

"Reckon 'bout an hour ago."

"You're insane." Edie said, sighing. "You'll feel terrible come tomorrow."

"I'll just sleep it off."

"You'll get yourself all messed up."

"Well it's over and done with now."

Edith sighed on the other end. "How was your trip?"

"It was good," She responded. "I'll tell you more 'bout it when I see you." Tiredly, Jean attempted to lean on a stack of books Jack had on a table next to the phone, but knocked them all over loudly.

"Don't mess those up!" Jack called from his living room, where he was sitting with Rose Aylmer and a book.

"Where the hell are you, Louise?" Edie asked, probably having heard the commotion on the other end.

"I'm with Jack Finch," Louise sighed.

"I reckon he's crazy as usual."

"You've got that right."

"You want me to pick you up tomorrow?"

"If you don't mind."

"It wouldn't be a bother," Edith said, and Louise couldn't help but to wonder if she insulted her mother by saying that. Since Charlotte and Jean died, Edith had become more sensitive to Louise's remarks. "I'll bring you some coffee."

"You certainly know the way to my heart, Edie." Louise responded endearingly.

"Do you reckon you'll go to Maycomb?" Her mother asked.

Louise paused, sucking in her breath quickly. Her mother added: "Jem and Scout would certainly love to see you. Atticus was here for the legislature about a week ago and he brought them to come spend time with me and all they talked about were your post cards. They _adore_ you."

"Of course I'm plannin' on seein' them." She responded, finding herself smiling at the fact that her niece and nephew still thought highly of her even after she'd been gone for two years. "I'm not sure how long I'll spend with you, that's all."

"You know you can come and go as you please," Edie said. "You're always welcome here."

Louise's breath got caught in her throat, and she found herself feeling sentimental (she had lost a bit of her nerve once Jean passed). "I know."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Edie said. "Try to sleep on the train if you can."

"Edie?"

"Yes?"

"Did _you_ like my post cards?"

"I loved them, sweet. I have some hangin' on my walls."

"That makes me glad, mama." She said, biting her bottom lip. She and Edie both hung up.

"Jack!" She called out. "I needta make two calls to Maycomb, if you don't mind!"

"I hardly use that thing so the extra charge won't hurt me much." He responded dully.

Again, she picked up the receiver and said: "Long distance, Maycomb, Alabama." Once the second operator picked up (Jean had once told Louise her name, but Louise was drawing a blank), she pleasantly said: "Maudie Atkinson."

She had written her cousin Maudie while she was away, too, and Maudie always sent back the most humorous responses out of everyone she wrote to. She figured if she was going to be in Maycomb, she might as well see if she could stay with her cousin. "Atkinson residence," Maudie said pleasantly.

"Well mighty be," Louise said. "Maudie Atkinson is that you?"

There was a pause on the other end as Maudie tried to figure out who was on the other end. "Why…" She said slowly. "Louise?!"

"As I live and breathe." She smirked.

"What the hell are you doin' in Nashville?"

"You sound more like your Aunt Edith every day." Louise responded before telling her the same story about flight prices and trains.

"Well, I'm awfully glad you called me." Maudie said happily. "You've been missed!"

"I missed you, too," Louise said genuinely. "I have an important question to ask you."

"Shoot, dear."

"Mind if I come to stay with you in about a week? I'm going to Montgomery to see mama and the girls and the aunts but I wanted to come to Maycomb to see you, Jem, Scout and Atticus. I'm not sure how long I'd be there—"

"I would _love_ it!" Maudie said before Louise could finish. "You know you could stay with me for however long you'd like. This house is far too big for me and the more I could fill it up the better. Why, it'd be like when we were kids again."

"You're an absolute treasure." She said. "I'm goin' to call Atticus, to let him know I'm comin'."

"Sounds good, dear." Maudie said cheerfully. "I'll see you in a week!"

Again, Louise hung up the receiver. She leaned against the wall and looked around Jack's hallway before she picked up the receiver again. "Long distance, Maycomb, Alabama again please." She said. When the second operator came on she said: "Atticus Finch, please."

The phone rang longer than it did when she called Edie and Maudie, and she began to wonder if she should just hang up and try calling again when she got to Montgomery. Just when she was about to hang up, the other end picked up. "Uncle Jack?" A young voice asked. It had to be Jem.

She smiled to herself. It had been so long since she heard that voice, and hearing it again reminded her of her visits to Jean and playing outside with the kids. "Honey, it's your Aunt Louise." She said, and he gasped.

"Really?!"

"I promise, I ain't fibbin'."

"What are you doin' with Uncle Jack?"

"It was easier for me to come to Nashville." She said. "How are you doin', baby?"

"I'm mighty fine, I reckon." He said. "School's just let out so I'm spendin' time with Scout and readin' and stuff. How was your trip?"

"It was good, but I missed you and your sister." She said truthfully. From the other end she could faintly hear voices.

"Hold on a second, please." Jem said as he moved the receiver away from his mouth. She could still hear him when he called out: "It's Aunt Louise, Atticus!" And moments later she heard Scout's voice talking rapidly, though she couldn't quite grasp what she was saying since the receiver was too far from her mouth.

"Sweets?" She asked. "I would love desperately to talk to you both in just a minute but I actually really needta talk to your daddy."

She heard the receiver being placed down, and she imagined Scout and Jem scurrying to their father, who was sitting in his rocking chair reading. In the years she had known Atticus Finch, he had always been predictable.

"You've caused quite a commotion here, Lou." He chuckled as he picked up the receiver.

"I can tell," She said, smiling to herself.

"How was your trip?"

"Lovely—I can actually tell you about it in person in about a week or so," She said. "I'm goin' to be in Maycomb after I have a visit with Edie."

"Really?" He asked, genuinely sounding pleased. "Would you like to stay here?"

"I'm actually stayin' with Maudie already," She responded. "But I'll probably be spendin' a good deal at your house." She added, chuckling.

"I reckon you will, the children will surely be ecstatic." He remarked. "It'll be good to see you again."

"I'll be glad to see you, too."

"I have a question." He said slowly.

"I may possibly have an answer." She told him.

"Why on God's green earth are you at my brother's place?" He asked, a hint of laughter in his voice. She laughed.

"I honestly have no damn idea," she said, looking around at his books. "Though I think I may regret it."

"Is it the unruliness or the cat that bothers you?"

"The latter."

"Did you see the leash?"

"Of course I did."

"Did he make you hand feed it?"

"Of course," she said. "It was rather bizarre. I think I insulted it, too." She whispered.

"Did he make you apologize?"

"How do you reckon I got in here?"

"You poor thing." He laughed. "Would you like to speak to the children?"

"I sure would."

"Hold on a moment," he said before putting the receiver down. Louise swore she could hear the kids running towards the phone.

"Hold on, Scout!" Jem said impatiently. "I've just got one more thing to ask her and then you can talk to her!" Putting the receiver closer to his mouth, he asked: "Are you really comin', Aunt Lou?"

"I sure am," She said cheerfully. "I'll be there in about a week."

"I can't wait!" He said. "I'm gonna give Scout a turn now, she's itchin' to ask you somethin'. I love you!"

"Love you too, sweet." She said as she heard him hand the receiver to his sister.

"Aunty?" She asked. Though she still sounded young, Louise was quite sad to hear how grown up Scout sounded.

"Yes, dearie?" She asked. "Are you excited to see me?"

"Of course!" She said. "I got a question for you."

"Yes, baby?"

"Did you get my last letter before you left?"

Louise laughed to herself. Usually when Scout would send her a letter she could tell that Atticus had helped her draft it. However, she could tell the last one Scout sent was done on her own because in large, uneven handwriting she wrote: _Hi, Aunt Louise. Jem is botherin' the hell out of me. Can you tell me about my mama?_ Shortly after Jean had decided she was going to come home, and didn't have a chance to answer the letter.

"I did, baby."

Scouts voice dipped to a whisper. "Well, can you tell me about her?"

Louise perked up. "Of course!" She said, trying not to sound awkward. She hadn't talked about Jean in a while (unless you count her pretending to be traveling with her in Europe), and her loss still cut deep. "When I come I can tell you all of the stories and things you want to hear."

"Can you tell me somethin' now, too?"

"I can tell you anything you want to hear."

Scout paused on the other end, thinking about what she wanted to know. "Well Jem tells me 'bout her sometimes but I want to hear what you hafta say since you knew her longest," she started. "What did she smell like and what was her favorite color?"

Louise couldn't help but to smile at how innocent those questions were. "She smelled sweet," She began. "I think her soap had rose water infused in it or somethin' so she was always smellin' real nice. Her favorite color was gray."

"Gray, really?" Scout asked.

"Isn't it borin'?" Louise chuckled. "Your mama loved it because of the different types of gray the clouds turned when it rained. She loved the rain and she loved gray."

"I love the rain, too." Scout said.

"Just like your mama."

"Can I ask one more question?"

"You certainly may."

"Did mama ever play in the rain—like I do?"

Louise smiled, thinking back to her childhood when she and her sister would run around and dance in the rain until Edith told them to stop acting so foolishly. "She played in the rain just like you," Louise confirmed. "She would run around in the wet grass and get her feet all dirty and me and her would make up dances outside on our front lawn when it was raining and she would run around and let her clothes get all dirty. Why, I think one time when you were just startin' to walk she took you and your brother outside to play in the rain with her."

On the other end, Scout giggled. "That sounds like fun." She said simply.

"It was, baby. Every time you play in the rain you can think of her as a little girl twirlin' and dancin' about."

"Thank you, Aunty." Scout said. "I love you."

"Love you too, sweet."


	2. Chapter 2

In her usual fashion, Louise had ignored her mother's advice and barely slept on the fifteen hour train ride from Nashville to Montgomery. It wasn't like she didn't try, she just found something about sleeping while traveling unfavorable. Instead, she sat there, forcing her eyes open as she looked down at the copy of _The Importance of Being Earnest_ that she took from Jack when he wasn't looking. However, her exhaustion got the best of her at times, and she spent most of the trip sitting there with her eyes closed, barely able to open them.

She hardly remembered getting off of the train and meeting her mother, and she certainly didn't remember the car ride from the train station to Edith's home. The next thing she knew she was waking up in the room Charlotte and Jean used to share. It was exactly the same as it had been when they moved. As she opened her eyes, she squinted as the bright sun streamed through the windows. _How long had she been there?_

Slowly, she let her feet hit the floorboards and she looked around the room. She couldn't help but feel uneasy, laying in Jean's bed long after she had gone. Jean and Charlotte's trinkets and belongings were still immaculately displayed on shelves. When she opened their dresser, there was still clothes in it. She wondered if Edie ever went back in here after her daughters died.

Tiredly, Louise exited the room and looked around the hallway. The door to the room that she and her sister Harriet once shared was closed and she realized that Clara and Libby probably slept there now. When Louise determined that Edie was not upstairs, she slowly made her way to the parlor.

Immediately, she was greeted by the smell of cigarette smoke and the sound of classical music. Her mother was sitting in an old armchair, her back facing the staircase, reading a book and smoking while the radio played. Still standing on the stairway, Louise coughed.

Abruptly, Edie turned around and examined her third daughter. "Did I wake you?" She asked.

"No ma'am." Louise said as she sprawled herself out on the sofa across from her mother.

"You look awful." She said.

"Gimme a smoke, please."

"You shouldn't be smoking." Edie responded.

"I shouldn't be doin' many things."

Hesitantly, Edie tossed her daughter the pack of cigarettes and the book of matches. "Sit up when you do that, I don't want you lightin' the sofa on fire." Obediently, she sat up and lit her cigarette. Taking a drag, she looked around the parlor.

"Where are the girls?"

"Clara is out with some scoundrel," Edith replied, scrunching her nose. "Libby's upstairs reading."

Louise laughed. "How does it feel? Havin' young broads again?"

"I reckon it's alright."

Louise sighed as she laid back down on the sofa. She wasn't sure how long she had slept, but she knew she was quite certain that she could sleep for at least another day. "How're you feelin'?" Edie asked as she put her book down on the end table next to her.

"Dreadful."

"You should go back to sleep."

"I'm fine."

"If you think so."

"Where's Harriet?"

"I suppose she's at home," Edith said. Harriet had gotten herself married shortly after Jean passed (Louise never knew that a miserable wedding reception could exist), and nobody in the family was surprised when she and her husband decided to move within the same neighborhood as Edie and the aunts. "She's gotten a job, you know."

"She mentioned that in a letter," Louise responded. "What is it she's doin'?"

"It's nothin' much, she's a secretary for her husband." Edie responded as she delicately pressed her cigarette in the ashtray next to her. Hastily, she extended the tray to her daughter. "She's excited you're here."

Louise took a long drag from her cigarette and looked around the parlor. It was exactly how it was the last time she had been there. "Edie?" She asked, not looking at her mother.

"Hmm?"

"Does Scout ever ask you about Jean?" She asked slowly.

Edie coughed. Louise wondered if it was hard for her to talk about her dead daughters. "She does."

"What do you tell her?"

"I tell her about when she was little." Edie responded. "She started askin' the last time she came to visit."

Louise finally looked over at her mother. "What did you tell her?" She asked again.

Edie laughed to herself. "I told her how she tried to bury you in the back yard when you were two."

Louise burst into laughter. "I bet she liked that an awful lot."

"Said she wished Jem was smaller so she could do it to him."

"She's a trip."

"She sure is."

Edie picked her book up again and began leafing through the pages. Finishing her cigarette, Louise looked up at the ceiling, laying completely still. As a child, Edie always hated how fidgety she and Jean had been. Once she reached adulthood, Louise was surprised to discover how perfectly content she was being completely still.

"What did you tell her?" Edie asked.

"What?"

"What did you tell Scout," she continued slowly. "About Eugenia?"

"She asked what Jean smelled like and what her favorite color was and if she liked to play in the rain so I answered her."

"She always got so dirty in the rain." Edie reminisced.

Louise wondered if Edie ever suspected that she would lose her husband, grandson, two daughters and a son-in-law before she would even be close to dying. Maybe she did, and that was why she had always been so stern and almost resigned for Louise's entire life. Maybe Edie approached life so seriously because she knew what was coming. She seemed to spend her entire life preparing for this, as if she was born knowing her fate. Louise couldn't help but to wonder if Edie would outlive not only all of her sisters, but her children as well. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, Louise tried to focus on other things.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin'."

"You look agitated."

"Just tired."

"What did you do while you were away?"

"I ate a lot." Louise responded, giggling softly to herself. "And I just saw everything I could."

"Did you see Versailles?"

"I did. You would've liked it."

"I'm never leavin' Montgomery." Her mother replied. "What else did you see?"

"I spent some time in Monaco. I went to Switzerland and ate a lot of chocolate—I brought some for you. I saw Buckingham Palace and spent some time in England and I went to Italy and saw the Trevi Fountain." Louise said, drowsily listing off the places she had seen in the past two years.

"Where were your favorite places?" Edie asked.

"Spain and France, I spent the most time there."

"What did they think of your accent?"

"They laughed at me." Louise giggled.

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"I most certainly did."

"Did you get lonely?"

Louise shrugged. "There were people everywhere."

"Not _your_ people."

She couldn't help but to laugh at Edie. For as long as Louise could remember, Edie was always telling her daughters how they were better off staying in Montgomery for the rest of their lives. They were born and bred there, they knew the people and the city and would do quite well in the future. She had been quite pleased when both Charlotte and Harriet had decided to stay there, but wasn't so quiet in voicing her disappointment over Jean and Louise leaving (though she couldn't have been too surprised). Louise figured that her staying in Montgomery while she was married to Phil had to be enough to please her mother. Though, sometimes Louise couldn't help but to wonder whether if there was anything that actually pleased Edie.

"They were fine enough."

"I think you would be so much happier if you just settled." Edie said, shaking her head.

"I tried that once, remember?" Louise rolled her eyes. "That didn't quite work like it was supposed to."

"That just wasn't your time." Her mother said, shaking her head. "Now that you've done your runnin' you should focus on settling. You still have time."

"I wasn't runnin' and I don't want to settle."

Edie sighed. "What do you call that latest excursion, then?"

"A trip."

"A _two year long_ trip?" Edith asked impatiently. "That's simply ridiculous."

"You just don't understand because you've got no business leaving Montgomery." Louise retorted.

"Neither did you."

"I certainly did."

"Eugenia," she started firmly, but then caught herself. Her face turned pink as she huffed a little. "Louise, you don't just solve your problems by runnin' away."

"I wasn't trying to solve anything, I just wanted to go." She said, ignoring the fact that she had just been called Eugenia. 

"You gettin' yourself so agitated all the time will give you a heart attack." She said seriously. "That's why you need to settle."

Louise sighed. "Mama, anything can give me a heart attack considerin' my genes." She said hastily. "Jean was settled and…" She stopped, sighing again. "Edie, I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

"I guess I am agitated."

"You always have been, it's no surprise."

"Can I settle while being alone?" Louise asked playfully. "I've found I don't like companionship too much."

"You can do whatever you want as long as you're not that far from your home again. It just isn't natural." Edie said, making Louise chuckle.

"Are you still glad I'm back?"

"Mm hmm."

"Will you still be glad in a week?"

"Ask me then."

Louise chuckled to herself as Edith started reading again. For a few moments the two of them sat there quietly, minding to themselves. Still tired from the excessive traveling she had done the past two days, Louise found herself dozing off as she stared at the ceiling. It wasn't until her mother was standing over her that she began to focus again. "You hungry?" Edie asked.

"I'll just have some bread." Louise said tiredly.

Edie scoffed. " _Bread_? That's hardly anything. What's the last thing you ate?"

Louise had to think about that. "A ham sandwich." She said.

"When was that?"

"In Nashville."

"Lord Almighty, Louise!" Edie exclaimed. "Get up. You're eatin'. It's nearly five o'clock!"

Louise rolled her eyes. "I don't need anything, I'm not hungry."

"If you do not get up right now I'll skin you," Edie said testily. "I have some chicken in the kitchen."

"Don't want it."

"Charlotte—"she said before sighing in frustration. "Louise get up and eat somethin'."

"If it'll get you to be quiet, then fine." Louise huffed as she got off of the sofa and strode towards the kitchen. She began to rummage around for food when Edie stopped her and forced her to sit at the table while she made her daughter a plate.

"I'm thirty-five I can do this myself." Louise scowled.

"I've learned if I left you to your own devices you won't do what's good for you." Edie responded. "If I want something done my way, I need to do it myself."

"You talk like you're on some sort of secret mission or somethin'." Louise said as Edie shoved a plate in front of her.

"Just eat."

"I can already tell that we are going to have the loveliest week." Louise said, taking a bite of her chicken. It was Edie's turn to roll her eyes.

-o-o-o-

Surprisingly, her initial week in Montgomery had gone by quickly. The entire time Louise found herself irritable because she was doing exactly what she hated to do: being social. When she wasn't with her mother, nieces and aunts she was with her younger sister having teas and brunches with women she used to be friends with when she was a child. They looked at her different. Well, they _always_ had looked at her differently, especially when comparing her to her two older sisters, but it was almost as if she was tainted by the deaths of her sisters and husband. Despite the fact that years had passed since then, her old companions looked at her and mournfully shook their heads while they grasped her hands. It was almost as if she was given a death sentence.

As the days went by, Louise couldn't help but to be excited about her visit with Maudie. For as long as Louise could remember, Maudie was low key. Louise anticipated having to socialize to an extent while she was in Maycomb, but she was quite certain that she and Maudie would laugh their heads off about how ridiculous other women could be. Additionally, by being so close to Atticus, Jem and Scout, she could easily spend most of her free time with them and avoid having to go too far out of her comfort zone.

She wasn't sure how long she'd be in Maycomb. It was the middle of June, almost July really, and both Maudie and Atticus had informed her that she was welcome for as long as she wanted, so she figured that she would just arrive and leave whenever she had the urge. It wasn't like coming and going from Montgomery and Maycomb would be difficult, it wasn't too far of a commute. While she was perfectly content with the ambiguous nature of her plans, Edie was furious. Edie liked things scheduled and set in stone, and the fact that Louise lived so freely got under her mother's skin. Louise didn't care, however. She tried living a regimented life once, and she hated it.

Louise boarded the train towards Maycomb (well really Abbott County) on a Tuesday morning. Edie had seen her off at the station and insisted that Louise call when she arrived. Rolling her eyes, she told her mother that growing old made her worry and it wasn't too attractive, but that she would call all the same. It wasn't until she was halfway to Maycomb, again flipping through _The Importance of Being Earnest_ , that she realized that she hadn't told Maudie or Atticus that this was the day she would be arriving.

Once she arrived at the station, she grabbed her bags and looked around for the phone. Originally, she was going to call Maudie, apologize for being so senseless, and ask if she could be picked up. But she realized that it would make for a much grander entrance if she called Maycomb's only taxi (she always took it whenever she would visit Jean and Atticus) and arrive without anyone knowing. Smiling triumphantly to herself as she picked up the receiver on the public phone, imagining the looks of surprise on Jem and Scouts faces.

The colored man who drove the taxi was the same driver who picked her up from the station whenever she came to visit Maycomb. As she settled herself and her luggage in the back seat, he looked at her, smiling kindly. "You sure do look familiar, ma'am, but I don't know where I know ya from. I'm certain you're not from town."

"I'm not." She replied pleasantly. "I'm Atticus Finch's sister-in-law, I came to visit quite a few times."

The man's eyes lit up when he remembered her. "You're Mrs. Finch's sister," he said, nodding to himself. After a moment, a solemn look appeared on his face. "She was awfully nice."

"She was."

"Are you here to see Mr. Finch and the chil'ren?" He asked as he started the taxi.

"I sure am, thank you very much for takin' me." She responded.

The car ride was quite pleasant, to say the least. Her driver happily talked about Maycomb, how warm the summer had been, and how big Mr. Finch's children were getting. At one point, he shook his head though he was still smiling, and said: "If only Mrs. Finch could see her babies now." Louise felt a little pang in her heart.

"If only." She said, nodding, trying to sound normal.

When he stopped the car in front of Atticus' house, she noticed that nobody was outside. As she fumbled in her pocketbook for some money to give the man, he shook his head and said: "You're Mr. Finch's kin, you don't need to worry 'bout payin' me."

"Don't be silly," she said, handing him extra money. "Take it."

After she grabbed her bags and got out of the taxi, she pleasantly waved goodbye to him as he drove off. Looking around, she decided that she would put her stuff at Maudie's before looking for Jem and Scout. Quietly, she climbed up onto Maudie's porch and put her bags by the door. Louise figured her cousin was inside drinking tea or doing something, and she would come by again once she saw the children.

Hopping off of Maudie's porch steps, Louise quietly made her way towards Atticus' house. When she saw the children weren't in the front yard playing, she slowly made her way to the back, where she found them, playing with their backs to her. Jem and Scout were playing with another small creature who looked like he was even younger than her niece. Animatedly, they were talking and it wasn't until Louise really had a chance to listen to what they were saying that she realized that they all had roles and were playing a game.

She leaned against the fence so it creaked loudly, and when the children jumped she greeted them with a grin and nearly shouted: "Whatcha y'all doin'?"

She felt bad for the poor stranger, who looked confused as Jem and Scout both let out shrieks of: "Aunty!" and ran towards her. Flinging open the fence as hard as she could, she engulfed her niece and nephew in a large hug. Stepping away to observe them, she couldn't help but beam. "Lord Almighty!" She said. "The two of you are nearly tall as me!"

When it came to Jem that really wasn't an exaggeration. Though her nephew was only ten-years-old, he was gaining significant height on his aunt. It didn't help that Louise and all of her sisters had always been so short. "Atticus didn't say you were comin' _today_!" Scout said as she buried her face in Louise's hip.

"He musta forgot or somethin'," Jem said, smiling. "He always says he's gettin' forgetful."

Louise smirked. "He didn't know I was comin'," She said, almost proudly. "I didn't tell a soul."

"Were you tryna to surprise us?" Jem asked. "'Cause it sure worked."

"Well, I'm sure glad it did." Louise grinned. "What're y'all doin'?" She asked, looking at the scrawny boy who was still watching the scene.

Before any of the children could say anything, the back screen door slammed open. "Why are you makin' such a ruckus?" Cal, the housemaid that worked for Jean and Atticus since Jem was a baby, asked testily as she came outside.

"Oh, Calpurnia!" Louise exclaimed, smiling at the woman. "I'm afraid my arrival has prompted this uproar."

Cal, who previously had a hardened look on her face, gave Louise a small smile though she simultaneously looked embarrassed. "Mrs. Green," she said politely, though Louise hated being called that. "I am mighty sorry, I didn't realize you were comin' today! Would you like somethin' to eat or drink?"

Louise remained smiling. "You don't have to call me Mrs. Green, Cal." She said, trying to sound as polite as she could. "And I'm quite fine, thank you." 

Cal smiled at Louise once again before telling her that if she needed anything to call for her, and retreated back into the house. Looking at her niece and nephew, she playfully put her hands on her hips and said: "Well, who's this?" She asked, looking at their friend. The little man (he looked like a grown man stuck in a kid's body) strode up to her and extended his hand out for her.

"The names Charles Baker Harris," he said confidently. "But my friends call me Dill."

"Dill," she repeated, shaking his hand. "I like it. You can call me Louise, I'm Jem and Scout's aunt."

"I didn't know Atticus had sisters," Dill said thoughtfully. Scout kicked him in the shin.

"She's our mama's sister." She said, almost as if Dill should have known that. Louise couldn't help but to think that the boy looked damn well impressed by Scout's brashness.

"What're y'all playin'?" She asked curiously.

"We-ell," Dill started. "We're playin' the Radley's—"

Dill was interrupted by Jem telling him to hush. "I'm sorry!" Dill exclaimed. "I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Louise asked.

"Nothin' ma'am." Jem responded quickly, and all three children stood still as statues.

"What's the Radley's?"

"Nothin'."

"Don't sound like nothin'." Louise said. "Is it somethin' you're not supposed to be playin'?"

Jem, Scout and Dill all exchanged nervous glances. "Well, Aunty." Jem started, and began explaining that this was a game that they had all invented around different speculations about their neighbor, Boo Radley. Atticus had recently discovered what they had been doing and told them it wasn't appropriate, though they still sometimes played it. "We changed all their names, I swear." Jem added quickly after explaining everything to her.

"Well," Louise said. "Is there a role for me? I won't tell Atticus if you don't."

The children beamed. "Well we only have three roles, but you can play Mrs. Radley instead of Scout." 

"He-ey!" Scout protested, making Louise realize that her niece probably didn't get much of a chance to play any good roles in the games she played with the boys.

"It's for Aunty!" Jem said.

"How bout we make a new role so Scout can keep hers," Louise said quickly, making her niece smile. "I can pretend to be the cat or somethin' and one of ya'll can stab me."

The kids erupted into giggles. "You really want to play a cat, Miss?" Dill asked.

Louise shrugged. "I met a cat who was a hell of a lady, so I figured I can act like her." She said, making a jab at Rose Aylmer, hoping that Jem and Scout would catch on.

"You talkin' about Uncle Jack's cat—"Jem asked, laughing, as Maudie began calling for her cousin from across the street.

"Louise Cecilia Graham," She said, her voice growing closer. "Did you really have the nerve of leaving your bags on my porch and leaving?"

"Oh, Maudie," Louise said dramatically as her cousin came into view. "I'm sure the look of pure joy on these children's faces could certainly make up for my wrongdoing."

Maudie got closer to her cousin, though she was smiling, she was trying to be mad. "First, you don't even tell me you're coming," she said, waving her finger in the air. "Then, you leave your belongings on my porch for me to trip over."

Louise smirked. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't make a grand entrance?" She asked, trying to sound charming. "I'll come by real quick to put my belongings in a more suitable place, but I did promise them I'd play a game with 'em."

"I should've known this would be the first place you came to," Maudie said as she hugged her cousin. "I'll put your things away for you. Will you be at my place for dinner?"

Scout gasped. "Aunty, can you eat with us? _Ple-ease_?" She asked.

"Yeah, please!" Jem said. Louise glanced at Maudie and then at the children.

"We'll need to ask your father," Louise said. "He still doesn't know I'm here, after all."

"He won't mind!" Scout insisted. "You can surprise him when he's walkin' home! When we go to meet him you can hide in Mrs. Dubose's flowers and jump out at him and we can ask him!"

Louise and Maudie both laughed. "I think I'll just walk with y'all." She said. "We don't want to scare the daylights outta him."

"He'll say yes, I know it." Scout said.

Maudie laughed and quickly grasped Louise's arms. "I'm just going to make the assumption that I won't be seein' you until after dinner." She said. "We can have some tea when you come back and we can talk about your latest adventure."

"Maudie Atkinson, you are a saint." Louise said.

"Well I had to be, considering who my cousins were." Maudie winked before walking towards her own yard. "You all have fun, don't wear your poor Aunt out on her first day here."

"We're sure glad you're here," Jem said, grinning. "Are you sure you don't mind bein' a cat?"

"Why, I'd play a rug if you needed me to." She said.

In more detail, Jem described to Louise the nature of their game and explained the characters that they would all be playing. While he was talking, she couldn't help but to be genuinely impressed by how creative these children were. However, she soon came to regret offering to be the cat because she was the character that was killed first, and after Jem pretended to stab her, her only responsibilities were to mew pathetically for a short while and look dead. Luckily, she was coming home to Maudie and not Edie, because she managed to get her dress quite dirty from laying on the ground.

After playing the game twice, Dill was beckoned home by his aunt. After biding goodbye to their friend, Jem and Scout both went to their treehouse. "You can come up too, Aunty." Jem offered as she settled herself on the tire swing that hung on the branch below the treehouse.

"That's quite alright, I'm afraid of heights." She explained.

"You flew on a plane, that's much higher than this!" Jem said.

"Yes, but I was petrified the entire time and refused to look anywhere but straight ahead of me." Louise responded, smiling. "What do y'all do after Dill goes home?"

"Usually we keep playin'." Scout said.

"Sometimes we go inside and read or play a game inside." Jem continued.

"We _always_ meet Atticus when he walks home." Scout said as Jem nodded. Rather than going all the way in the treehouse, Jem and Scout sat at the entrance of it so they could still see their aunt.

"Are y'all close? Do you play together all the time?" She asked them.

"I reckon so." Jem said, nodding.

Louise smiled. "Your mama and I played together all the time, we used to make up games too." She told them, they both looked fascinated.

"What kind of games did you play?" Jem asked, curiously. Louise could detect a hint of somberness to him at the mention of his mother.

"Well, we didn't make up games about our neighbors," She winked at them. "But we played lots of things. We made up a game where we would dare each other to do things, and if we didn't do the dare somethin' bad would happen."

"What would happen?" Scout asked in a concerned tone.

Laughing, Louise shrugged. "Well, I don't know the answer to that." She said. "We _always_ did the dare."

"What did you two make each other do?" Jem asked, a smile forming on his face.

"One time when I was fifteen your mama dared me to eat two uncooked eggs." Louise responded seriously, both children erupted into a fit of laughter.

" _She_ dared you to do _that_?" Jem asked, almost in disbelief.

"She did," Louise confirmed. "And I got real sick from it and when the doctor asked what I had eaten we couldn't tell them about our dares. D'you remember your mama's nose?" She asked.

Jem looked deep in thought, while Scout watched her aunt and brother, still giggling from what she had just told them. "What 'bout it?" He asked.

"Remember how it was bumpy and crooked?"

"I reckon so."

"I don't!" Scout said and Louise smiled gingerly at her niece.

"Growin' up your mama had the cutest little button nose and people would always go up to her and pinch it and tell her about what a doll she looked like," She began, trying to suppress her laughter. "Well, one day, after our daddy died and we were movin' to the house that Edie lives in now, I noticed your granddaddy's gun collection was left in the open. Your nanny told us to mind our business because she had things to do, so naturally I thought of a dare. I took one of his big ole rifles and gave it to your mama, who was about Jem's age at the time, and told her that we were going to play hunters and that she needed to shoot at somethin' in the tree."

Scout gasped with excitement, almost as if she was being read from an adventure book. "What does that have to do with her nose?" Jem asked, looking deeply concentrated.

"I'm gettin' to it," Louise laughed. "Well your mama, never being one to turn down a dare, took the gun and aimed to shoot—she looked like she knew what she was doin' so I was mighty impressed. Turns out, she pressed somethin' wrong so when she tried to shoot it, it backfired in her face and broke her nose. There was blood everywhere and we were both hollerin' so loud y'all would've thought we were bein' killed! Ever since, her nose was crooked and always looked puffy."

For a moment, both Jem and Scout looked at their aunt with wide eyes and looks of astonishment on their faces. Then, almost simultaneously, they both erupted into a fit of laughter that almost caused Jem to fall out of the treehouse. " _Mama_ ," Jem said, having to stop to take a deep breath. " _Mama shot a gun_?"

"That was her one and only experience," Louise laughed. "She wasn't too fond of them after that."

"Did mama wear overalls like me when she was a kid?" Scout asked, a big smile still on her face.

Louise shook her head. "Edie would rather die than let her girls wear pants," she said. "So your mama always wore dresses, but she did like to play outside like you two do so they always looked like mine do now, or worse."

"I bet nanny hated that." Jem said.

"Nothin' made her skin crawl more." Louise said. "I bet if she could've, your mama would've worn overalls."

Scout giggled. "I still can't believe you made her shoot a gun."

Jem smiled to himself. "Now that you say it I _can_ remember what her nose looked like."

As she lazily swung herself back and forth, she threw her arm up in an attempt to tap her nephew's foot as a source of comfort. She didn't quite reach him, but he saw her effort and smiled at her. "I'm glad you're here." He said.

"Me too, baby."

"How long will you be here, Aunty?" Scout asked.

As she opened her mouth to answer, Atticus approached them. "You haven't even been in Maycomb a full day and the children have already roughed you up, it seems." He greeted her with a laugh. Looking away from Jem and Scout, she came to see her brother-in-law standing before them. Quickly, Jem and Scout jumped down from the treehouse to properly greet their father. As they stepped away she slowly slid out of the tire swing and went to hug him before she stopped herself, realizing how dirty she was.

"I don't mind," he told her. "I've raised two children, I've been dirtier."

She smiled at him before hugging him. "It's good to see you, Atticus." She said.

"I'm certainly glad to see you," he said kindly, brushing a spot of dirt off of his suit jacket. "I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive."

"It seems as though I'm awful at lettin' family know when I'll be comin' and goin'." She said with a smile. "If it's any consolation, I didn't tell Edie I was back until the day before I planned on comin' to Montgomery."

"I'm sure she was absolutely tickled by that." He chuckled.

"Atticus!" Jem exclaimed excitedly. "Can Aunty eat dinner with us?"

"Ple-ease, Atticus!" Scout added.

"I don't see any reason why she won't be allowed to." Atticus said. "She can stay only if she wants to, don't pressure her if she says otherwise."

Scout attached herself to Louise's hip again, making her sway a little. Looking down at her niece, Louise wrinkled her nose, making Scout giggle. "Please stay for dinner, Aunty." She said.

"Well, I need to do some washin' up first but you know I'm certainly glad to stay." Louise responded as Scout hugged her hips tighter. Louise laughed, but found herself wishing that Jean would come out through the front door to greet them at any moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Initially, Louise thought that she was going to only stay in Maycomb for perhaps two weeks and then return back to Montgomery. However, a little over a month had passed and she still found herself waking up in Maudie's house, having an early lunch with the neighbors, and playing with the children all afternoon. While Edith found it downright deplorable that Louise had no set schedule for her life, Louise for once was ecstatic. Each day she had the opportunity to watch and play with Jem and Scout, a privilege that Jean had wrongly been denied. She cherished her niece and nephew's imagination and thoroughly enjoyed watching them bring their stories to life with limited personnel and resources. At first she had felt guilty, for always showing Jem and Scout more devotion than she did towards Clara and Libby. But they were different, though she couldn't explain.

On one of her first nights in Maycomb, Atticus had told her that she was more than welcome to use his car if she ever wanted to take the children anywhere. He preferred walking to work rather than driving, so he left his key for her to use whenever she pleased. She seldom ever used it, she was a terrible driver. If she had decided to take the children anywhere, they would walk. Though the days were hot, she figured walking would be better than nearly killing the children with her awful driving skills.

When August rolled around, Louise decided she would make her trip back to Montgomery once school began. When she told Jem and Scout of her decision, they looked at her with sad eyes but once she insisted that not only would they see each other around Christmas, but that she would come back again in the summer, their eyes seemed to light up. Since that day, they took full advantage of the remaining time left in the summer. Louise felt like a child again, playing outside and feeling seemingly careless. If it wasn't for Maudie and having daily lunches with the ladies in town, she would probably never remember what day of the week it was.

After lunch one sunny afternoon, Louise had grown tired of watching Jem and Scout sigh, not knowing what to do with themselves. Dill hadn't been with them that day, and the absence of their friend made it seem as though the other two children had absolutely nothing to do. "Go get dressed in swimmin' clothes," she said quickly. "I'll take y'all to the Barker's Eddy."

Excitedly, Jem and Scout hurried into their house to get ready while Louise went back to Maudie's. Looking around for her cousin, Louise deemed that Maudie must have still been at Miss Stephanie's place. The two of them had gotten into a heated debate during lunch, and it must have still been going on. Shrugging to herself, she climbed up the steps to find something to change into. She ultimately decided to wear a stupid old dress (if she was thinking correctly, it was an old gift from Alexandra) that she hated. Retrieving some towels from Maudie's linen closet, she returned to the children, who were clad in old t-shirts and boxers of Jem's.

"You're _really_ wearin' _that_?" Jem asked in disbelief.

"Aunty, your dress is gonna float all over the place." Scout added.

"Well, what do you two suggest I wear?"

"I'm sure Atticus has some old things you can borrow!" Scout said.

"Oh _hell_ no." Cal had once told her to mind her cursing in front of the children, but Louise paid no attention to that. "I am _not_ wearin' your daddy's underthings."

"He won't care!" Jem said as he and Scout ran back into the house.

"Don't you dare!" Louise said.

They didn't listen, but Louise didn't expect them to. They were, after all, related to both her and Jean so Louise figured that Jem and Scout were born with some degree of rebellion in their blood. Moments later, the two children came running outside, carrying one of Atticus' undershirts and a pair of boxers. Louise couldn't help but to feel awkward by this.

"I'm _not_ wearin' that." She said firmly, crossing her arms.

"It ain't a big deal, Aunty." Jem said, thrusting the garments at her. "When we're done swimmin' you can just throw your dress on top of it and he'll never know. We left his room exactly the way it was."

"Aunty, your dress will get all in the way if you wear it swimmin'!" Scout added.

With her hands on her hips, she looked at the children (feeling especially like Edie at that moment). Jem was still holding out the clothes for her to wear and they matched her gaze with looks of persuasion. Sighing, she threw her arms down and grabbed the clothes from Jem. "Give me a hot minute," she grumbled, making her way back to Maudie's. There was no way in hell she was going to risk Calpurnia catching her putting on Atticus' clothes. From behind her, she heard Jem and Scout snicker to themselves.

Quickly, she went back into Maudie's house and since nobody was there she carelessly changed into Atticus' things, feeling quite awkward about doing so. Before she left, she pulled that stupid dress on top of her new swimming gear and huffed towards the children. "You're still wearin' the dress," Jem said, not believing that Louise had actually changed. Giving them a defeated look, she pulled the dress up high enough for them to see what was underneath, making Scout giggle.

"Are we gonna go or not?" Louise teased, again putting her hands on her hips. "'Cause I'm just about to change my mind…"

"Aw, c'mon Aunty!" Jem said. "We're all ready."

The walk to the Eddy was nice, despite it being so hot that day. For half a second she had been tempted to borrow Atticus' car, but quickly decided against it. Anyway, the walking would probably do them good. "Are you a good swimmer, Aunt Lou?" Scout asked as she trotted alongside her aunt, her messy tresses of hair bobbing up and down.

"I reckon so," Louise shrugged. "Your Aunt Charlotte would take your mama, me and your Aunt Hattie swimmin' every summer."

"I don't remember Aunt Charlotte," Jem said thoughtfully. He was walking a few feet ahead of Louise and Scout, and had to walk backwards every time he wanted to talk to them.

"You were a baby when she died," Louise explained. "She was our oldest sister."

"Was she nice?" Scout asked.

"She was nice enough," Louise smirked. "She was a typical big sister, she teased us a lot but she always included us."

"Did mama tease you a lot, since she was _your_ big sister?"

"Your mama teased _everyone_ , even your daddy."

Jem turned around again, with a smile on his face. "You mean _mama_ teased Atticus?" He asked, making Scout giggle.

"She sure did. Why, she told me when he asked her to marry him she teased the heck out of him before she said yes." Louise laughed. Jem and Scout giggled to themselves.

"Did Atticus like her teasin' him?" Scout asked.

"I reckon he must've, why I don't think he would've fallen in love with her if he didn't like her teasin'." Louise responded.

"Did they love each other a lot?"

"Mm hmm," Jem said, slowing his pace to be closer to his aunt and sister. "They used to kiss all the time and sometimes Atticus would come home with a book or somethin' for her just 'cause he loved her and she used to have lunch with him at his office and things like that."

Louise ruffled Jem's hair and wondered if he ever got sad when he talked to Scout about Jean. Right now, he was smiling and seemed happy to talk about his mother, which made Louise feel relieved. "I can't imagine Atticus kissin' _anyone_." Scout said, scrunching her nose.

"That's 'cause you're just a kid," Jem said. "When you get older, you'll get it."

Louise couldn't help but to laugh to herself, Jem was only ten but sometimes he talked to his sister as though he was twenty. It reminded her of how Charlotte used to talk to her and Jean when they were younger. "I still think it's funny." Scout said, smiling.

When they got to the Eddy, both children went running to the water almost immediately while Louise watched. "C'mon, Aunty!" They shouted as she watched their heads bobbing up and down in the water. After a few moments, she took off her dress and went running after them. Although the Eddy was Maycomb's swimming hole, there was hardly anyone there besides the three of them. Louise didn't mind much, she was still quite embarrassed over the fact that she was in her brother-in-law's undergarments.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been swimming, but once their skin got wrinkly from all the moisture and they were feeling downright exhausted, they made their way back to land to rest on their towels. For a short while they lay there in silence, looking up to the sky and minding themselves. After a short while, Louise propped herself up on her elbows and asked: "Are y'all excited for school to start?"

"I reckon so," Jem said dreamily, still lying flat on his back. "I like school."

"I'm excited," Scout said as she rolled to her side in order to better look at her aunt. "Did you like school?"

"You always have so many questions." Jem said, though Louise couldn't tell if he was annoyed or not.

"It's always good to ask questions, it's how you learn things." Louise told her niece. "I liked school until I was eight."

"Why?"

"Well, when I was eight your granddaddy died and your nanny sent me, your mama and your Aunt Hattie off to this all girl's boarding school way up north to learn how to be ladies. I went there for ten years but never fit in there."

"Why did you fit in?" Scout asked curiously.

"Honey, I am no lady."

"I think you're a lady."

"You're one of the only gals who does, then." Louise smirked.

"Did mama like school?" Scout asked.

"I reckon the two of us were in the same position, but she got along better at that school than I did." Louise informed her niece.

"Was mama a lady? Everyone in town says she was."

"Your mama was the jack of all trades," Louise responded, smirking. This made Jem sit up. "She could sew and cook just fine, and was quite pleasant for company. However, she hated missionary teas, goin' to church and she cursed just like I did. Yet, that cranky old neighbor of yours down the street never had anything bad to say about her."

Jem chuckled. "Mama cursed?" He asked.

"She said hell and damn almost as much as I do."

Jem and Scout laughed again. "She seemed funny." Scout said as she rolled onto her stomach.

"She was, baby."

Again, all three of them grew quiet. Jem remained laying on his back, his arms propped behind his head and his eyes closed. Scout was nearly falling asleep on Louise's other side, and for a few moments Louise watched as her niece struggled to keep her eyes open. Closing her own eyes against the harsh sun, Louise thought back to her childhood in Montgomery. Even when Charlotte was nearly an adult and beginning her life with Big Simon, she always took the time to take her younger sisters swimming a couple times a week when they were home for the summer. Then, it was like their ages didn't matter, they all acted equally childish as they dunked and splashed each other for hours upon hours.

"Aunt Louise?" Jem asked groggily, sitting up.

Slowly, Louise opened her eyes. "What, honey?" She asked.

"How did Aunt Charlotte die?" Beside her, she could hear Scout waking up.

She rubbed at her eyes as they burned adjusting to the sun and paused for a moment. Swallowing, she said: "She had a heart attack." She had immediately decided that it wasn't the time to tell Jem and Scout about the drunken state their oldest aunt was found in.

"Did mama have a heart attack?" Scout mumbled tiredly.

"She did, baby."

"And didn't your daddy have a heart attack?" Jem asked, beginning to sound concerned.

"He did."

"Are _you_ gonna have a heart attack?" Scout asked. Louise had expected Jem to shoot his little sister a glare for asking that, but instead his eyes remained on his aunt.

"I don't know, baby."

Louise noticed that both children were beginning to look at her with solemn eyes. Sighing, she forced herself to smile at them. "I haven't been feelin' anything funny goin' on with my heart so I'm quite certain that everything will be fine."

Jem swallowed. "It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with mama, either." He said sadly as his sister watched him intently.

Louise pursed her lips, knowing that Jem was probably right. Even once she was married and had children, Jean and Louise had remained in constant communication. Louise had even talked to Jean on the telephone two days before she died, and she didn't complain about feeling sick or her heart bothering her or anything. It just sprung out of nowhere. Just like it had sprung out of nowhere with Charlotte and their father. Louise wondered if this was something that could be detected, or was something that hid within the Graham ancestors. Not knowing what to say, she again forced a smile and asked: "Do y'all wanna hear a funny story?"

The pair nodded, though they were still looking at her funny. "Growin' up, there was a bunch of kids in our neighborhood that we used to play with when we came home in the summer, and one of your mama's little playthings was this boy named Emmett," she started. "Emmett's mama's family came from England or somethin' so she had this funny little accent whenever she talked, and whenever we'd all get in her hair she would yell: _Emmett and you Graham girls, I'm gon' take you to the home!_ " Louise began to imitate the accent, making Jem and Scout laugh.

"What's the home?" Scout asked as she and Jem looked at their aunt curiously.

"An orphanage. Well," Louise continued, chuckling. "One summer when I was eleven, so your mama and Emmett must've been around thirteen or so, we found this old fashioned pram that Emmett's mama had in her family for a long time. We took the pram to the park by your nanny's house, the one with those nasty metal slides, and your mama and Emmett thought it'd be a great idea to put me in the pram and pretend I was their baby."

Jem snorted. "You were older than _I_ am, why'd you let them do that?"

Louise chuckled. "Your mama was probably the only person I ever listened to when she told me to do somethin'," she responded honestly. "Plus, they told me they would push me down the slide in the pram, which I thought would be fun."

"What happened?" Scout asked, her face flushed from laughing.

"Even though I was short and little for my age, I was still too big for that damn pram." Louise said, smirking. "But they pushed me down the slide anyway, and I fell off of the side of the slide, breakin' the pram and sprainin' my wrist. Right as it happened, Emmett's mama came by the park with his baby brother and saw the whole thing happen. I've never heard that woman scream as much as she did then!"

"What did mama do?" Scout asked, highly amused.

"She ran!" Louise nearly shouted. "Your mama saw the entire thing happen and ran for the life of her. I thought she was gettin' Edie or somethin', but she hid at our Aunt Bea's house tryin' not to get in trouble!"

Scout and Jem both roared with laughter. Wiping tears from her eyes, Scout said: "Aunt Bea always said mama would come to her whenever she was in trouble."

"We all did," Louise said, smiling fondly at the memories of her childhood. "We were all too scared of Edie to go to her."

Scout propped her chin in her hands, a mischievous smile on her face. "Aunt Bea said mama once hid at her house because she snuck outta nanny's house with that Emmett. Did mama sneak out a lot?"

"Both your mama and Aunt Charlotte snuck out _all the time_ ," Louise responded, smirking. "They never learned their lesson, because Edie always caught 'em."

"Did mama kiss Emmett like she kissed Atticus?" Scout asked, a sheepish smile on her face.

" _Scout_!" Jem said, his face turning red. Louise laughed.

"She did not," Louise said matter-of-factly, though she was quite aware of the fling Jean had with Emmett before she met Atticus. "Your mama loved Atticus, but she didn't love Emmett."

"Then why did she sneak out with him?" Jem asked.

"'Cause she was young." Louise said simply.

"Jem's gonna get girls to sneak out with him." Scout decided, making her brother grow redder.

"Cut it out, Scout." He grumbled impatiently. Scout did not seem intimidated by her brother's moodiness, and instead she laughed at him. At least they weren't thinking about heart attacks anymore.

-o-o-o-

Exhausted from the day's excursion, Louise opted to go back to Maudie while Jem and Scout had supper with Atticus. When she walked through the door, slightly damp and sunburned from that afternoon, Maudie thought her cousin was the funniest sight. "Look at that dress," she laughed. When Louise returned she found her cousin sitting on her plush chair in the living room, flipping through a magazine.

"You should see what I have on underneath it," Louise winked. "Atticus' underclothes."

Maudie nearly stopped breathing from laughing so much. "You're kiddin'," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Wish I was, Jem an' Scout said I had to swim in 'em." Louise said as she lifted her dress so her cousin could see her attire, making Maudie laugh even harder.

"I never imagined myself _ever_ seein' Atticus Finch's underclothes," she gasped, grinning. "Are you gonna give 'em back."

" _Hell no_!" Louise cried as she climbed up the stairs to get changed. "He's never goin' to know I had these."

If there was one thing that Louise truly enjoyed about staying with her cousin, it was how incredibly _normal_ things were day after day. While she surely enjoyed not having a routine for the past two years, she found herself instantaneously comforted by the monotonous routine that established itself for her as soon as she came to Maycomb. Originally, she feared that each day she spent there would be the same, and while that was mostly true she found that the simplicity in helping Maudie with her flowers or playing make believe with her niece and nephew day after day was satisfying enough for her.

She and Maudie ate a light supper together, and all throughout it Maudie expressed her deepest wishes to maim Stephanie Crawford and how she went around talking as if she knew everybody and everything. After they had finished eating, Maudie sighed, saying she was tired and was going up to bed (and if Louise was in the right mind, she'd go to bed too after all the activity she had today), and went upstairs. Louise lingered in the kitchen for a while, but once she decided she wasn't going to bed just yet, she went outside.

The night was humid and still, and there were hardly any noises coming from the neighborhood. Settling herself on one of Maudie's rocking chairs, she looked around. She had thought she was the only one out, but quickly noticed her brother-in-law sitting on his porch swing alone, looking like he was thinking about something. Slowly, she stood up and walked towards his house.

"Mind if I sit with you?" She asked, smiling at him as she approached his porch. He smiled in return and nodded.

"I wouldn't mind it at all," he said pleasantly as she sat next to him. For a moment the two of them were silent, which Louise now found to be completely normal. When she first met Atticus Finch, his constant silence set her on edge a little bit. She was the type of person who enjoyed talking, and whenever she met someone as thoughtful as Atticus, she felt out of her element. The more she got to know her brother-in-law, however, the more she realized that this was just his nature and slowly grew accustomed to it. Out of nowhere, he cleared his throat.

"I reckon you'll be leavin' for Montgomery soon," he said.

"I was goin' to stay for their first day of school, but I'll probably leave shortly after." She told him. She had come from Montgomery for Jem's first day of school, so she only thought it appropriate that she do the same for Scout.

"They'll enjoy that," he said, a small smile on his face. "They've really enjoyed your company."

"I've had a good time with them." She responded truthfully. "I'll probably come back next summer."

"That'd be nice." Atticus said thoughtfully.

He went silent for a moment, examined his sister-in-law and then let out a chuckle. "You look more like Edith every time I see you."

She scoffed, making Atticus look amused. "I've been told that far too many times. Jean had Edie's nose before she went and blew it up, you know."

Atticus smiled to himself. "She looked like your mother whenever she was mad."

"It didn't help that she _always_ put her hands on her hips just like Edie did." Louise laughed to herself.

"I told her that made her look like an old woman once, and I thought I was done for." Atticus chuckled.

"I'm surprised you're here to tell the tale." Louise said.

"I heard the infamous pram story at supper tonight." Atticus said with a laugh. "You had Jem and Scout awfully amused."

"Did Jean ever tell you that story before?"

"She did," Atticus responded thoughtfully. "Zandra had given her the pram she used for Henry when Jem was born, and Jean couldn't look at it without laughing. She said it made her think about pushin' you down the slide and how she highly considered runnin' away afterwards."

"Did she tell you about the time she actually did run try away?" Louise laughed.

Curiously, Atticus looked at her. "She did not," he said, smiling again.

"I think Edie was gettin' on her nerves or somethin' one summer so she "ran away" by goin' to church camp in the middle of nowhere but I refused to go with her because it was so _stupid_ but she was adamant on runnin' away, so she went alone." Louise laughed.

"What on earth is church camp?" Atticus asked.

"I don't think it was actually called that," Louise said. "But it was a camp for kids where you go to learn about Jesus and everyone prays with you, over you, for you, about you, you name it."

"She didn't believe in any of that," Atticus said, raising his eyebrows. "She probably went crazy."

"Three days after she got there, she sent a letter begging Edie to take her home." Louise laughed. "It turns out she wasn't tough enough to run away."

Atticus smiled to himself and looked towards the other end of the porch. _That must be where he found her_ , she thought to herself, noticing that the rocking chair that had once sat there was no longer on the porch. She swallowed, thinking of Atticus coming home from work one day, expecting everything to be normal but finding his wife dead. She felt bad for him. "Jem looks like her," she said softly.

"He does." Atticus said, still looking away.

Atticus went silent again, and Louise wondered if she should leave him to his thoughts. However, after a moment he shook his head slightly and looked at his sister-in-law again. "I've realized we haven't talked about your trip." He said, looking at her curiously.

"It was quite nice." She said. "I acted like a complete fool but since I was a 'tourist' everyone thought I was normal."

Atticus chuckled. "Where was your favorite place?"

"Either France or Spain," she said, smiling as she thought of those countries. "They were quite nice."

"You know," Atticus said slowly, as if he was thinking a great deal about what he was going to say. "Many people were surprised you came back."

"I didn't give anyone much notice." She responded.

"Do you mind me askin' why you decided to come back?" He asked carefully.

"You know, I just got tired of runnin' around…" She said before she stopped herself abruptly. "Scout sent me a letter."

"She sent you quite a few." Atticus pointed out.

"She asked about Jean," Louise elaborated. "I got it and it was as if I had one of those dumb moments where you look at what you're doin' and decide that maybe you should change somethin'. So I decided that I was goin' to stop pretendin' that Jean was travelin' with me and I was goin' to come back and talk about her. It turns out talkin' about her is better than pretendin' she's still here."

"You pretended she was with you?" Atticus asked. Louise had expected him to look at her strangely, but he wasn't.

She felt her cheeks flush and she looked away from him, slightly embarrassed. "I used to pretend that we went on our own separate excursions and that we'd be comin' back to the hotel to tell each other about our adventures in the evening."

"Sometimes I pretend she'll be here when I get home," Atticus confessed, making her feel better. "But then I think about…" he coughed.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's been four years and I can still imagine her lyin' there," he said softly, his eyes going back to the other end of the porch. "I apologize, that's probably not something you want to hear."

"I don't mind."

"Do the children ask about her a lot?" He asked, bringing his attention back to Louise.

She smiled, thinking about the stories she'd been sharing with Jem and Scout. "Mainly Scout, but Jem does too. Sometimes he'll even tell Scout things about her."

Atticus gave her a small smile. "I'm glad she's askin' someone." He admitted. "Sometimes I think she's afraid to ask me about her."

"Why's that?"

"Sometimes Jem has these days where he gets real upset because he misses her," Atticus explained. "I think Scout believes that I'll get the same way if she talks about her mama to me."

"I think it's real difficult for her," Louise said, sitting up a bit. "She's young so she doesn't quite know what death is, but at the same time she's been forced to try to understand it."

"I wish there was an easy way for me to tell her that I love talkin' about Jean." He said thoughtfully. "I could talk about her all day and still not run out of things to say. You know, you and Harriet are the only ones who'll talk about her without gettin' all stiff."

Louise smiled at him. "Talkin' about her makes her feel closer." She explained, and Atticus nodded.

"I've got a question for you." Atticus said.

"And what's that?"

"Why," he said, thinking about how to phrase is question. "Why don't you call her Jean Louise like all the other adults?"

"Well," Louise said slowly. "I don't call her Jean Louise because every time I say it, I honestly feel like Edie or one of the aunts callin' after us and it honestly makes me feel strange."

Atticus laughed. "That's why I named her that."

" _You_ named her?"

"Don't you remember when Scout was born and Dr. Reynolds thought that Jean was bleeding too much so while he was checking on her, I named her Jean Louise?" He chuckled, looking highly amused with himself. "From the time even before Jem was born, Edith was telling me that she felt bad for me because if Jean and I ever had a girl she'd wind up being just like you and Jean. So I thought it fitting that she'd be named after the two women she took after."

Louise laughed and stared at him with her mouth slightly open. "I'm surprised Jean didn't make you change it."

"I originally wanted to name her Eugenia, and she wanted to name her Louise, so that was our compromise. Though, she did hold a grudge about it for a few days." He chuckled.

"I can't believe it! She was the master of teasing people, and you pulled this one over her." She responded, still laughing.

"Nobody can deny that her name's definitely fitting." Atticus told her with a slight smirk on his face.

Louise chuckled and shook her head, getting a tremendous kick out of picturing Jean's reaction to her daughter's name.


	4. Chapter 4

In spite of the pleading carried out by Jem and Scout, Louise left for Montgomery after their first few days of school had passed. Noticing that Scout wasn't enjoying school very much so far, Louise had been tempted to stay. When she told this to Atticus, he smiled at her and shook his head saying: "I wouldn't worry too much about it. It could always be worse."

Agreeing with him, she stopped reconsidering her decision to go home and spent one final evening with her niece and nephew. She constantly reassured them that she would be back, hoping that her promises would get the distressed looks off of their faces. Despite the fact that she seemed to outwardly ease their anxieties over her departure, she couldn't help but to continue to feel guilty about leaving them.

When she returned to Montgomery, Edie was there waiting for her. "Your Aunt Bea's sick," was the first thing she said.

Louise looked at her mother with a startled expression on her face. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's gettin' old."

"That wasn't very specific."

Edie sighed. "I don't know what to tell you," she said, almost impatiently. "She's gettin' along like your grandad."

Louise remained silent. Her Aunt Bea had always been her favorite of Edie's sisters (sometimes she liked her more than Edie), and had always been the one that Louise and her sisters would go to for anything. And just like most of the people Louise had grown to be dependent on, Bea would most likely meet her demise soon.

At least Bea was old, Louise thought to reassure herself. At least Bea had lived a full life, doing what she wanted to, rather than dropping dead in her mid-thirties. "She's not too bad, yet," Edie said, noticing the nervous look on her daughters face. "She's still talkin' and eatin' and can remember most things. Gettin' around just bothers her."

"I'll spend more time with her while I'm here." Louise said as she fiddled with her thumb nail.

"How was Maycomb?"

"It was fun," Louise said, a small smile growing. "I reckon we all had a good time."

"How was Scout's first day of school?" Edie asked.

"She _hates_ it, Edie." Louise responded, chuckling to herself. "She's got this new teacher who told her she wasn't allowed to read anymore because she doesn't do it right."

"Doesn't do it right?" Edie asked, perplexed. "I didn't realize there was a right and wrong way to know how to read."

"That was exactly my thoughts."

"Poor baby," Edie said, clicking her tongue as they approached her house. "I'm sure she'll like it just fine soon enough."

"That's what Atticus says, he says they'll have bigger things to worry about soon." Louise responded.

"What on Earth does he mean by that?" Edie asked.

"He's got a new case," Louise explained. "It'll cause him quite the scandal, I think. There's this girl in town who's accusin' a black man of…taking advantage of her. Atticus has been assigned to defend the man."

Edie's eyes widened. "Atticus'll lose either way."

"He knows that, but he says he needs to do it." Louise shrugged. "It made sense to me."

"I wonder what Eugenia would think…" Edie said before cutting herself off.

"She would want him to do it."

"I suppose you're right." Edie said, almost as if she was talking to herself. "You hungry?"

"I'm just going to take a nap." Louise lied. As they entered the house, Louise took her bags from her mother and went towards Charlotte and Jean's old room. She noticed Libby in the other room, sitting on her bed and flipping through a magazine. Tiredly, she waved at her niece before shutting the door behind her.

Like she did the first time she had been back in Montgomery, she observed the room around her. The bedsheets that Charlotte and Jean had used when they were teenagers were still immaculately on their twin-sized beds. On Charlotte's side there were little post cards hanging on the walls that were sent to her from Big Simon while they were courting, and on Jean's side she observed copies of paintings she enjoyed. Underneath the nightstand the two sisters had once shared, there was a pile of books neatly stacked. Jean's brush still sat on their bureau, a necklace was dangling from the corner of their mirror. There was an old snapshot of all four sisters, when Harriet was probably ten, hanging in between the two beds. Sighing, she slowly opened the top drawer of Jean's side of the dresser. There wasn't much in there, an almost empty bottle of perfume, a comb, a bottle of red nail polish and two neatly folded skirts. She picked up the perfume bottle and smelled it. It smelled like Jean. Clutching the bottle, she frowned. Maybe she'll take it back to Maycomb for the children so they knew what she smelled like, or maybe she would keep it for herself. Exhaling sharply, she put the bottle back in the drawer and shut it hastily. She threw herself on Jeans bed, and took a deep smell out of the pillow case. It didn't smell like her anymore. Louise remembered sneaking in here in the early mornings to fetch Jean, even though she was still asleep. She remembered Jean's blonde hair, which contrasted sharply with Louise's brown hair, strewn over her pillow angelically. Had her hair looked that good when she died?

Wiping stubborn tears from her eyes, Louise rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, breathing slowly. She couldn't help but to think that if Jack saw her now he'd laugh at her and call her a mess. She _was_ a mess. Perhaps she'd been one her entire life, but Jean's death only made it worse. She wondered what Jean would think if she had seen Louise in such a state. Louise had always been the one who never let feelings consume her. She'd been the one who would rather die than look pathetic, who always criticized Charlotte for how she acted once Simon died. Now here she was, four years after her sister died, lying on her old bed crying.

It's funny how time changes things.

-o-o-o-

Despite being considered a relatively busy city, Montgomery bored Louise to tears. While Maycomb was a slow old town, she at least had playing with Jem and Scout and watching Maudie and Stephanie bicker to keep her occupied. No matter how long she stayed in Maycomb, she was considered a guest—the only thing that people in town knew was that she was Mrs. Finch's younger sister. In Montgomery, on the other hand, she was known and familiar. The girls she had grown up with in the neighborhood had turned to ladies, got married and had babies. Even at the age of thirty-five, Louise was still her eighteen-year-old self: snarky, alone, reckless and seemingly happy with her life. Every time she accompanied Harriet to a lunch or a tea or a stupid event, she knew she was being watched and judged. She lost count of how many times she was asked when she was going to calm herself down and settle.

What didn't help was the fact that Hattie seemed to agree with them. At thirty-two years old, Hattie thought she knew everything. She had been married for four years, had a job, a house, a dog and stability. Though she didn't say anything aloud, she judged her older sister for being so carefree. The general consensus among Hattie and her social circle was that if Louise knew what was good for her, she would quit acting the way she was and find someone to anchor her down and help calm her agitated soul. Louise was disgusted by it.

One evening, after Hattie and Louise had gone to stupid game of cards at one of their old neighbor's houses, they sat in Hattie's kitchen drinking coffee while Hattie's husband tended to the yard. Louise pulled a pack of cigarettes out from her dress pocket, pulled one out for herself, and offered one to Hattie who distastefully declined. "I can't smoke anymore," she said, waving the box of cigarettes away from her. "And you shouldn't either." She added hastily as Louise lit her cigarette and took a puff from it.

"Why's that?" Louise asked, exhaling slowly. Hattie glared.

"As a matter of fact, I went to the doctors last week. I'm almost the age Jean was when she died," She said softly, not looking at Louise. "So I went to get my heart checked out to see if there was anything I can do and he found out it was beatin' irregularly and I'm on some medication now. Doctor said I shouldn't drink as much coffee so I need to wean myself off of it… but anyways, I think you should seriously consider gettin' yourself checked out."

Louise looked at her sister, beginning to feel concerned. "You're okay though, right?" She asked.

Hattie shrugged. "Didn't seem too concerned, he said I was lucky I went to check. I think you should go, too."

"I'm fine," Louise said. "Nothing's botherin' me, I don't see why I need to—"

"Nothing bothered Charlotte or Jean, either." Hattie interrupted. "They seemed to be fit as fiddles and then… just go get checked."

Taking a long puff from her cigarette, Louise shook her head. "No." She said firmly, Hattie looked like she wanted to kill her.

"Why not?!" She exclaimed, slapping her hand on the table. "Daddy, Charlotte and Jean all died before they were forty. You can do something about your own heart."

"I'm fine."

"You don't know that."

"You're makin' a big deal outta nothing. I don't need you tellin' me what to do."

"Nothin'? Are you kiddin' me?"

"I'm done talkin' bout this."

"Well _I'm_ not."

"Listen, you can go ahead and get yourself checked out and do whatever you want." Louise said, crushing her cigarette in the ashtray. "But I honestly believe if I'm meant to die of a heart attack I'll die of a damn heart attack."

Hattie looked furious. "But with medicine these days—"

"I don't want to hear it."

"You're just saying this because you don't care if you die." Hattie said.

"You're full of it."

"Just admit it, you have nothing to live for anymore."

Hattie froze and immediately looked distressed. "Lou," she said slowly, looking like she regretted what she said. Louise stood up. "I didn't mean it."

"I'm leavin'."

"I-I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm just tired." Louise lied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Louise noticed that Hattie looked dreadful as she strode past her and nearly slammed the back door behind her as she left. Lighting another cigarette furiously, she stormed down the street. She had the intent of going back to Edie's, but ultimately decided against it. Stopping three doors down from Hattie's house, she climbed up the stairs to her Aunt Bea's front porch and knocked on her door, hard.

Celeste, the colored woman who had worked for Aunt Bea for as long as Louise could remember, opened the door. "Louise, honey," she said in a breathy voice (she was only a few years younger than Bea and lost her breath easily). "You look like someone's ruffled your feathers. Your Aunty's gone to sleep but I can wake her—"

"It's fine." Louise said hurriedly. "I'll come back tomorrow."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Louise said as she turned around and walked towards Edie's house. She could've gone to Addie or Sarah's house, but they were never quite useful whenever Louise needed someone. Only Bea was. Storming through the front door, Louise made Edie jump out of her chair.

"Louise what the hell's the matter?"

"Nothin', I'm making a phone call." She said as she walked to the phone.

Agitatedly, she picked up the receiver and demanded: "Long distance. Nashville, Tennessee." She tapped her foot on the ground while she waited for the next operator to pick up, and then gave her Jack Finch's address. Then, she waited.

"Finch," Jack said dully.

"What're you doin'?" She asked.

"Well, aren't you just pleasant?" He jeered. "Hello to you, too."

She sighed impatiently. "Hello, John Hale Finch, how are you?"

"I'm doing quite well, Louise—"

"What're you doing?" She asked again.

"Readin' about to feed my cat." He replied flatly.

"What're you doin' next week?"

"Workin'."

"What else?"

"Nothin', I suppose."

"Would you like me to come to Nashville?"

"What?"

"Would you mind if I came next week?" She asked.

"Reckon I don't," he said. "I can see if I can fix my schedule so you're not completely left to your own devices."

"You're a gem." She responded.

"If it took you this long to figure that out, I'm highly reconsidering our friendship."

"Goodbye, demon." She said.

"Let me know when you're comin'." He responded. "See you next week, troll."

She hung up the receiver, feeling slightly relieved.

-o-o-o-

When she had informed Edie she was going to Nashville, her mother merely rolled her eyes and said: "after twelve hours with Jack Finch you'll be fixin' to come home early." Louise had scoffed in response. Though she told Hattie that she would come back over, she rarely saw her sister in the time between their conversation in her kitchen and her leaving for Nashville. She didn't mind much. Instead, she decided that she was going to disengage from the social commitments she usually took part in and instead spent her days sulking around Bea's house drinking tea. While her aunt seemed slower and less agile than before, she was still just as attentive to Louise as she had always been. Louise decided not to tell her about the conversation she and Hattie had, figuring it would just upset her old aunt. Instead they talked about when Louise and her sisters were little, and reminisced on various different things.

After enduring another fifteen-hour train ride, Louise arrived to Nashville feeling groggy. When Jack saw her, he attempted to swing her over his shoulders, but immediately regretted it once she kicked him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, straightening out her dress.

Jack shrugged. "They've been asking me that for years, and I still don't know the answer."

He lifted her suitcase for her and promptly informed her that he had walked to meet her at the train station, but if she didn't want to walk he would call them a cab. She shook her head. "It's fine," she said. "I don't mind walkin'."

"Do you want to see anything?" He asked as they walked along the sidewalk.

She shrugged. "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Not really."

"What do you do with your life?" She asked him.

"Work, read, walk Rose, feed Rose, give Rose attention." He responded.

She looked at him with a perplexed expression on her face. "You're strange."

"We can drop your stuff off and wander around if you want." He suggested.

"That's fine."

"Or," he said, a mischievous smile on his face. "We can save the wanderin' for tomorrow and just stay at my place and drink like fishes."

"You know, I'm actually quite fine with that decision." She responded.

"Thank God." He chuckled as he messed her hair.

-o-o-o-

For being as strange as he was, Jack was a remarkably simple man. He found joy in simple pleasures such as scotch, his cat and Victorian literature. While it was cluttered with books, his apartment was otherwise neat and quaint and seemingly represented Jack's personality. When they arrived at his apartment, Jack's first order of business was putting her suitcase in his bedroom (since he only had one room, he politely allowed Louise to take his bed while he slept on the couch) and then poured them two glasses of scotch. Throwing herself on his sofa, she observed Rose Aylmer, who was sitting in the corner of the living room watching them.

"Does she always stare?" Louise asked as Jack handed her a glass and sat next to her.

"She thinks you're threatening her territory," Jack said. "She's basically marking you as a hunted woman."

"I didn't realize you were a cat psychic."

"Rose and I have a bond better than any husband and wife." He said, almost proudly. Louise scoffed and shook her head at him.

For hours they sat there drinking scotch while Jack talked about work, his cat, and the latest books he's read. When the time came to talk about Louise's trip to Maycomb the conversation changed to Jem and Scout, what they had done that summer and how both Jack and Louise thought that the children were quite funny. For a few moments they were silent, Louise looked around at her surroundings while Jack placed Rose in his lap and pet her head.

"What's the matter with you?" He asked her. Suddenly, she was looking at him. "What are you runnin' from now?"

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" She asked.

"Why did you come to see me?" He asked. "What made you run this time?"

She scoffed at him. "I've visited you plenty of times before. I wasn't runnin' then."

"Yeah, but every other time you visited me you didn't call me in a fit beforehand." He pointed out.

"I wasn't in a fit."

"You weren't exactly a bowl of peaches."

"You're full of it." She said, draining her glass.

"Hey, I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing," he told her as Rose Aylmer yawned. "You've barely been home for two years, you're bound to get restless."

"I'm not restless."

He gave her a look. She found it incredibly annoying that he always knew when something was bothering her. "Harriet said something dumb." She said, slouching deeper into the couch.

He chuckled. "Your _little_ sister caused you to run off to Nashville."

She picked at her thumbnail, not looking at him. He paused and watched her. "What did Harriet say?"

"She said I got nothin' to live for."

"Why would she say that?"

"It all started when she told me she went to get her heart checked and the doctor said it was irregular or somethin' and gave her medicine and she told me to get checked and I told her I didn't want to." Louise said quickly.

"Why don't you want to get checked out?"

"It's useless."

"Not necessarily."

"If I'm going to die of a heart attack I'm going to die of a heart attack."

"If you monitor these things, you can prevent that."

"I feel like it'll happen either way."

"Do you wanna hear my opinion?" 

"You're going to give it to me anyway, so go head."

"I think you feel guilty," he said slowly. She looked at him, confused. "But you shouldn't."

"I don't feel guilty about anything." She replied, crossing her arms.

"You feel guilty that you have the opportunity to get yourself checked out when neither of your older sisters suspected anything was wrong." He told her, making her scowl. "You feel guilty that if something is wrong and you catch it, you'll have the chance to live when Jean didn't."

Louise inhaled sharply. "That's, that's foolish." She said bitterly, shaking her head.

"Are you sad?"

"No." 

"You look like you're gonna cry."

"I'm _not_." She hissed, though she could feel her eyes burning. "I've drank too much."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She said, sniffing.

Jack put Rose Aylmer on the floor. The cat made a soft screeching noise and ran off to another end of the room. "Honey, come here." He said, pulling her shoulders towards him and putting her head in his lap. Looking down at her, he chuckled. "I can see down your nose."

"You're an ass."

"Why are you sad?"

"I'm just agitated."

"D'you wanna talk about something else?"

"Please."

"Well, you pick the topic."

"Why aren't you married?" She asked him. He looked down at her and smirked.

"If this is your way of inadvertently telling me you want me to marry you, I'm not interested."

"I would rather die first." She said. "I'm just curious."

"Not interested." He shrugged. "It doesn't seem appealing to me."

"You're smart, it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"So I'm taking it you'll never get married again?" He smirked.

"Hell no, I should've stuck to my original plan of spinsterhood all along."

Jack yawned. "At least you've learned your lesson."

-o-o-o-

Louise returned to Montgomery after spending nearly a week and a half with Jack. She figured if she stayed away any longer, her family would think she was running off again or something and she didn't want to hear Edie complain about her listless tendencies anymore. Jack saw her off at the train station after giving her some sort of cryptic message about her going home and reminding her that he was still waiting for her to return the book she stole from him. She had rolled her eyes, punched him in the arm, and told him to stop being weird.

Edie was originally going to meet her at the train station again, but once she arrived in Montgomery on a Saturday morning she was greeted by Hattie. "Hey," her sister said, smiling awkwardly. Louise figured that she still must've felt bad about what she had said to her.

"Where's Edie?" Louise asked tiredly.

"She's with Aunt Bea," Hattie explained. "She was havin' some trouble movin' around a bit so she went to help her."

"I see." Louise said as they started walking towards their neighborhood.

Hattie sighed and looked at Louise. "Listen," she began before Louise interrupted her.

"Don't worry about it."

Hattie smiled at her sister. "How was Nashville?"

Louise chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Alright. All we did was drink." She replied honestly.

"I'm not surprised." Hattie laughed. Suddenly, her smile faltered a little. "D'you know that Emmett got married?"

"No!" Louise said before chuckling. "I thought he was goin' to be alone forever once Jean told him she couldn't be his plaything anymore."

Hattie chuckled along with her sister. "He has kids, too. I saw 'em ridin' bikes down that hill like we used to when we were kids. It reminded me of the time you loosened Jean's handlebars so they would fly off when she was goin' down the hill."

Louise laughed. "Remember how she got all tangled up in the bike and split her knee open, and she was still able to run at full force and push me off my bike?"

"Do I remember? Why, I was so certain you two were going to kill each other I went runnin' to Aunt Bea cryin'." Hattie responded.

"And by the time Aunt Bea had come to fetch for us we had stopped fighting and were sitting on the corner eating ice cream together." Louise continued, a mischievous smile on her face.

"No one knew what to do with either of you," Hattie said before pausing. "Emmett didn't know Jean died. He recently moved back into his mama's old house with his family so he had no clue about it." She added slowly.

"Who told him?"

"I did. He asked about her."

"What did he do?"

"Lou—he _cried_!" Hattie exclaimed, running a hand through her hair. "It was probably the most awkward thing of my life. And then he cried some more because he thought he was makin' me upset and it turned into this big mess."

Louise stifled a laugh. "Are you kiddin' me?"

"I wish I was." Hattie responded, shaking her head. "I can never get used to how people react to her death."

"They all look at you like you're tainted or somethin'." Louise agreed, nodding. The two sisters stopped at the end of the block, where Hattie's house was.

"Mama isn't home," Hattie said. "Do you wanna come over my place? I can put some coffee on."

"I thought you couldn't drink coffee anymore."

"Oh, forget that, I might as well live a little."

"Don't you have a lunch or tea or somethin' to go to?"

"Those things exhaust the hell outta me."

"Wanna play cards?"

"Certainly." Hattie said as they climbed up the steps that led to her front door. "D'you have any cigarettes?"

"Of course I do," Louise said, chuckling as she followed her sister into her house.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I just have a few bits of housekeeping! Firstly, I want to thank _everyone_ for the magnificently nice feedback I've been getting! Also, I've been trying to stay as true to the book as possible when writing this, but in working on this chapter I realized that some of my timing may have gotten a little wonky, so the kid's summer activities may seem a little redundant when comparing this to the second chapter (also, if Scout seems OOC I'm sorry! I tried to capture the spirit of a seven year old the best I could haha). In going forward, I'm reassessing things so it'll be as accurate as it possibly can! I also have this terrible habit of writing Jean when I meant to write Louise; I've gone through and double checked everything, but I'm still paranoid that I might've slipped somewhere, so please don't mind me if I did. Lastly, despite the fact that I've studied history, I actually have no clue exactly when snapshots and photos really became easily accessible for people, so if that is historically incorrect I'm sorry (it just worked out really well for this chapter)!

-o-o-o-

Louise's Aunt Bea died in February of 1934. By the time she passed, it hadn't come to much of a surprise to anyone in the family. In the months leading up to her death, she had quickly been deteriorating. Louise, since she wasn't bound to anyone or anything else, had spent nearly every day with her aunt before she died. She felt as though she owed it to Bea to stay by her side and tend to her, considering everything she had done for Louise and her sisters while they were growing up. Bea had never married, and instead focused all of her attention on all of her nieces. For as long as Louise could remember, Bea had lived in the same neighborhood as Edie and was always readily available with warm bread and jam whenever any of "her girls" needed her.

Now, she was gone.

Though the family had been able to prepare for and anticipate her death, it still cut both Louise and Hattie deep. In the days following her death, the sisters assisted their mother and other aunts in cleaning out Hattie's house and dividing her belongings. When no one was looking, Louise had managed to swipe the three chunky rings that Bea always wore. Whenever Louise was upset, Bea would slide the rings off of her fingers and let Louise play with them and they were among Louise's favorite worldly possessions. Once she returned home, she slid them in the velvet sack that also contained a pair of pear earrings and a ring that had once belonged to Jean. She then put the sack in the small chest that contained more of Jean's belongings and other things that Louise cherished. When Jean had passed, she had come into possession of quite a few of her sister's things. Some of these items would eventually go to Scout and Jem, but others were meant for her, always tucked away somewhere nearby so that it was _almost_ like Jean was present.

When Bea had died, Louise had gone to the funeral service but ultimately refused to watch them bury her aunt. This caused much embarrassment for Edie, but Louise remained adamant in her decision despite her mother's nagging. She didn't know why she refused to go, but she was never one to do something she had a gut feeling against. But, that was nearly four months ago.

It was now June. The days were getting hotter and longer, and the moment the children were out of school Louise decided that she was returning to Maycomb. The last time she saw them was for Bea's funeral, where they sat in the chapel stiff and obedient, looking solemn. Watching them, Louise decided that she would return to them as quickly as she could. She would be to them as Bea was to her.

This time, she gave Maudie and Atticus fair warning of her arrival and Atticus told her that he would pick her up from the train station. That evening when she arrived back in Abbott County and spotted Atticus, she noticed the children were nowhere in sight. Smiling as he hugged his sister-in-law, he (almost proudly) informed her that he had failed to mention to them that Louise was coming because he thought it would be a nice surprise. Louise laughed to herself as he took her suitcase, her brother-in-law could be a trickster if he really wanted to.

"Where do they think you are, then?" She asked as they slid into his car. Again, he looked really pleased with himself.

"I called home at the last minute and asked Cal to stay later because I had work to do at the office," he smirked. "Maudie and I decided to keep you a secret the moment you said you were comin'."

"Well, aren't the two of you mischievous?" Louise winked.

"I thought it was quite clever." He chuckled. "I hope you're not expectin' to see Maudie tonight, the children would be beside themselves if you don't stay. I already have the third cot ready to be put in the sunroom."

"I wasn't expecting anything else." Louise responded with a smile.

Atticus went quiet, and for a short while the only noise to be heard in the car was the sound of his thumbs tapping on the steering wheel. After a few moments, without looking away from the road in front of him, he asked: "how's your mother holdin' up?"

"Just fine. Did she tell you about the stand she's opening up at the city market on the weekends?" In the months between Bea's death and Louise's return to Maycomb, Atticus had made a handful of visits to Montgomery as a result of the state legislature being in session. Due to school, he wasn't able to bring Jem and Scout with him, which meant that his free time was spent in Edie's parlor chatting with her.

Atticus chuckled. "She did not," he informed her. "Is she sellin' embroideries or something?"

"Ha! I almost wish that's what she was sellin'. Nope, she's sellin' _candy_." Louise responded, trying not to laugh.

"Candy?" He asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yes, candy. After school one day she apparently dragged Libby out to a store to buy ribbon candy, those hard stick candies, gum and other silly things, and she's even attempting to make her own." Louise said, trying her best to sound serious.

"Is she actually selling it?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Surprisingly, yes. She thinks she's sellin' more than she actually is though. Clara, Libby and I pick at it every chance we get." She smirked. "She actually thinks that people like those hard, licorice flavored sticks so she keeps gettin' them. Once she brings 'em home I take 'em all."

Atticus smiled. "I think you and Jean are the only two people who actually enjoy those things," he recalled. Secretly, she liked the fact that he referred to Jean in the present tense. "She didn't care for any other candy besides those sticks. I wasn't too fond of them, but every time she got one for herself she'd get one for me, too. She told me that she wouldn't make me do anything I didn't like besides eat those things, because she liked seein' how black my mouth would get from them. She said they weren't the type of thing you could eat alone because they made you look so foolish."

Louise laughed, thinking of Atticus with his tongue and gums stained black from the candy (for some reason it seemed so uncharacteristic of him). "Whenever Aunt Bea would go to the drugstore when we were kids, she would always get stick candy for all of us and every time she would get me and Jean the licorice ones because she knew how much we liked them. We used'ta sit on Bea's porch swing and compare our tongues."

"That's what we would do," Atticus said, his smile still on his face. "When Jem was little we used to tuck him in and sit on the porch swing and eat them. One time, he must've been two or so, he had a nightmare so I went to go get him and he saw how my mouth was stained and thought I was a monster or something, which made him even more upset. Jean came rushing in to comfort him, and her mouth was even darker than mine was and he just had an absolute fit." Atticus laughed and Louise could tell that thinking about Jean made him happy.

"The poor thing!" Louise said as she laughed along with Atticus.

"He was still traumatized the next morning," Atticus said seriously. "It took him hours before he could even look at us the same way."

It didn't take them long to reach Atticus' house. As Atticus parked the car in the car-house, he smiled. "Maybe you should hide somewhere," he suggested, and Louise could tell that he was actually excited about surprising the children. "I can go inside and distract the children, and in a few minutes I'll send them outside to find you."

"You're gettin' more mischievous with age," Louise said playfully as she got out of the car. "I'm enjoying it quite a bit."

He smiled as they both shut their doors softly. "Wait here for a minute while I go inside." He said before leaving her in the car-house. Smiling to herself, she couldn't help but to feel excited about how surprised Jem and Scout would be.

After waiting for a few minutes, Louise quietly sneaked out of the car-house. Looking around Atticus' property to make sure she was safe, she wondered about where she could hide. She looked at the treehouse and was quite tempted, despite her fear of heights. Looking to see if there were any alternative hiding spots, she decided that she would have to simply overcome her fear if this plan was going to go on without a hitch. Inhaling slowly, she approached the treehouse and almost effortlessly climbed the ladder. However, once she was actually sitting at the base of the house and could look at the ground below her, she began to regret her decision. Nervously, she slid back deeper into the treehouse so she would be out of sight.

With no way to tell time, it seemed as though Louise had been trapped up there forever. Finally, she heard the front screen door open. "Alright," Atticus said as she heard Jem and Scout step onto the porch. "I want you to look around to see if you see anything unusual." Louise immediately regretted not picking a more obvious hiding spot, realizing that it might take a long time for the children to find her.

She heard Jem and Scout running around both the front and back yard, shouting to each other over whether they found what their father was talking about. "Atticus," Jem called. "We don't see anythin'."

Louise saw Atticus walking around the yard to see if _he_ could find her, when he caught her eye. "Maybe you two should go to your treehouse." He advised them as she silently thanked God.

Quickly, she heard the children running once again, and Scout's head bobbed up to the entrance of the treehouse. As soon as she saw her aunt, the girl shrieked scaring both her brother and Louise. Scout climbed up the rest of the stairs and threw herself into Louise's lap. "Aunty!" She nearly shouted. "Why, Aunty I thought you were afraid of heights!"

"Wait, what?!" Jem exclaimed as he climbed into the treehouse. Immediately after seeing Louise, his face lit up. "Hey, Aunt Lou!" He exclaimed as he tried to hug her as best as he could (Scout being on top of her made it a little difficult).

"What do you say?" Atticus asked, chuckling. "Is this a nice surprise?"

Jem and Scout both excitedly gave Atticus positive assurances as they continued to marvel over Louise's arrival. Clearing her throat, Louise looked at both of them and said: "I hope you know we're stayin' up here forever because there's no way in _hell_ I can get down."

-o-o-o-

Much to Louise's liking, that summer was progressing rather slowly. Shortly after Louise had returned to Maycomb, so did Dill. For a while, the children had great fun rolling each other in old tires and playing their imaginary games. Their interest in their reclusive neighbor continued to intensify, but Atticus quickly caught on and told the children to stop tormenting the man.

Just like the summer before, Louise spent a great deal of her time entertaining the children by taking part in their games. However, it was easy to see that Jem and Dill were becoming closer and wanted to do things that didn't particularly interest Scout. Louise hadn't been surprised, Jem was growing up and he was bound to want some time away from his sister. Noticing how dejected Scout looked, Louise couldn't help but to wonder whether Harriet had felt the same way towards her and Jean.

On one particular day in late June when Jem and Dill had run off somewhere to play, leaving Scout behind, Louise had an ingenious idea. Usually, when Scout opted to play by herself (or when Jem and Dill left before she could even notice), she would go to Maudie's house where the three of them would eat cake and mindlessly chat with one another. However, on this day Scout had opted to sulk in the tire swing, listlessly kicking her feet in the dirt as she occasionally sighed while Louise watched her from her seat on the porch steps. "Hey," Louise called as her niece looked up.

"Yes'm?"

"Do you still have questions 'bout your mama?" Louise asked, and almost immediately Scout's eyes light up as she nodded.

"Yes, ma'am!" She replied.

"Come with me," Louise told her as Scout slid out of the swing and followed her to Maudie's.

Maudie, who had been sitting in her garden tending to her flowers, looked up at her cousins as they walked by. "I'm goin' to show her somethin' in my room." Louise explained as they climbed up the front porch and entered the house.

"I've never been upstairs before," Scout informed Louise as they made their way to the room she was staying in.

"It ain't much, Maudie's a simple gal."

Louise opened the door to her room, and almost immediately Scout threw herself onto the bed. Not surprisingly the room was very simple, containing merely a bed, dresser, end table and mirror. The only signs of life in it was the dress Louise had draped over her closet door, the brush on the dresser and the trunk that sat at the foot of her bed containing some of her worldly belongings. Sitting on the floor by the trunk, she opened it and took out a small chest as Scout observed her. Holding the chest close to her, she sat down next to Scout.

"What kind of questions do you have?" She asked. "I can answer any and all of them."

Scout grinned and genuinely looked excited. "What did mama look like?" She asked eagerly. "Atticus says Jem looks like her, but I want to know what _she_ looks like. Was my mama pretty?"

Louise smiled as she set the chest to the side of her. "Your mama was very pretty," she began. "She had flowy hair that was almost always messy because she fidgeted around all the time. She was the only one of us sisters who got our daddy's blonde hair and she always spent time outside so it always got real light because of the sun. She had brown eyes like you do and she was a little bit shorter than me."

"Shorter than you?" Scout asked, sounding shocked. "Why, you're the shortest person I know!"

"I know it's hard to believe, but your mama was only about five feet tall! Your daddy was nearly a foot taller than her." Louise told her.

Scout looked wildly amused. "That must've looked real funny."

"It did," Louise smiled as she reached for her chest and began to fumble through it. "I've got a snapshot of all four of us if you want to see it."

"Yes, please!" Scout nearly shouted. Locating the snapshot, she gave it a quick look before turning it over. There weren't many snapshots taken of the family, but when there was Edie usually inscribed the date on the back of the photo—but it seemed as though she had forgotten to on this one. Turning the picture around to study it once again, she assumed this was taken before Simon had died (Charlotte actually looked happy) so Jean must've been only eighteen or nineteen at the time.

"I'm not sure when this was taken, but it looks like your Aunt Charlotte was about twenty-five, your mama was around nineteen, I was seventeen and Aunt Hattie must've been fourteen." Louise explained before handing the photo to her niece. "It'll be easy to guess which one your mama is." Even though the photo was awfully faded and in black and white, Jean's blonde hair stuck out.

"She's that one," Scout said proudly, identifying Jean. She held the picture closer to her face. "She _was_ pretty."

"She had a loud laugh, too. She was always laughin' and always happy, you could hear her from a mile away." Louise informed Scout, who continued to examine the photo intently.

"Mama kinda looks like Clara," Scout observed. "Is that Aunt Charlotte?"

"It sure is."

"What was she like?"

"She liked to tell everyone she was the most serious outta all of us since she was the oldest," Louise said. "But she liked to goof around just like the rest of us. Whenever we were sick when we were real little she would put on these one-girl plays for us to make us laugh."

Scout smiled, her eyes not moving from the image of her mother. "She was Clara and Libby's mama, right?"

"You got it right, honey."

"Do they get sad talkin' 'bout her?" She asked. "I don't hear much about her when I visit nanny."

"I reckon so, sweet."

Scout went quite, gently fingering the edges of the photo. "Do you wanna keep it?" Louise asked as Scout's eyes widened, and for the first time in ages she looked at Louise.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Won't you want to look at it?"

"Baby, I remember what your mama looks like." Louise said, smiling sadly. "You keep it to give yourself a reminder every now and then."

"Atticus' got a picture of her too," Scout said, holding her new gift close to her chest. "He keeps it in his office but sometimes when I go to see him I take a peek at it. I think it's from their weddin' 'cause she's wearin' a pretty white dress."

"He may have some more pictures of her, you should ask him sometime." Louise smiled but noticed Scout quickly looked hesitant. "What's wrong, baby?"

"I don't know if I should ask him, that's all."

"Why not?"

"I don't want him gettin' sad or anythin'," Scout explained.

"I'm goin' to tell you a little secret," Louise sad as she put her arm around her niece. "Your daddy wouldn't mind one bit if you talked about your mama to him."

"How do you know that?"

"Me and him talk about your mama all the time."

"You do?"

"Mm hmm, he _loves_ talkin' about her." Louise said. "Honey, he was married to her for nearly eight years, the way he copes with missin' her is by talkin' about her."

"You promise?" Scout asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Honey, I wouldn't lead you to do anything that would put in you in any sorts of trouble. I promise." Louise said firmly.

"Can I still ask you things about mama?"

"Of course you can."

Scout paused for a moment, looked at the picture and then looked at her aunt again. "Was mama as _old_ as Atticus?" Louise nearly laughed.

"Your mama was fifteen years younger than him," she said.

"Then how did they meet?" Scout asked, looking slightly confused.

"That's probably a better question for your daddy, but I can give you a little bit of information." Louise chuckled. "When your mama was twenty and I was eighteen your nanny had us livin' at the Buford Place to take care of your great-granddaddy, and your Aunt Alexandra would have us over for tea _every day_."

Scout shuddered. "That seems _awful_." Louise had to hold back her laughter.

"It was," she smirked. "I couldn't stand it, to be honest. So one day I didn't go to tea with your mama and when she went there, your daddy was visitin' with your aunty for lunch and that's when he first met her."

"Did they love each other right away?" Scout asked.

"Honey, it never works that way." Louise chuckled as she messed up Scout's hair. "Your daddy had grown up knowing my granddaddy, so he would come to visit and _that's_ how they got to know each other. Even when he died and we moved back to Montgomery, your daddy would visit at every chance he could."

Scout smiled. "How old would mama be now?"

"Nearly thirty-eight."

"If she were alive, do you think she would play pretend with us like you do?"

"She would love every minute of it."

"Did she go around talkin' like Miss Stephanie does?"

"Oh _hell_ no. Your mama _hated_ gossip."

"Did mama like to read?"

"She read almost as much as Atticus did."

"Was I nice to her when I was a baby?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did I like her?"

Louise could tell that Scout's inability to remember her mother made her nervous. Smiling at her niece, she gave her a little hug. "Baby, you _loved_ your mama."

"I did?"

"Your first word was mama!" Louise recalled. "Every morning when you woke up or whenever you got up from a nap, you would just call out 'mama' until she came for you. She once told me that when Atticus would go to get you, you would shake your head and call for your mama. You were so stubborn he would have to put you back in your crib so your mama would be the one to get you."

Scout giggled. " _Really_?" She asked. As a baby, Scout had been the most loveable thing there was. She had hardly been nervous around strangers and was always hugging and kissing anyone within reach. While she did demonstrate that partiality towards her mother, she was close to both of her parents. In the absence of Jean, it only made sense that she would further attach herself to Atticus.

"Your second word was Jem," Louise said. "That's why we call your brother that, and you would call and call for him until your face went red. He would always come for you with toys or milk or somethin'. He was very proud to have a little sister to take care of."

Scout gave her a small smile. "Did I like him back?" She asked.

"Of course you did! You were always climbing all over him and when you were real little you couldn't fall asleep unless he was next to you, so your mama and daddy used to put you and Jem in their bed and they would sit with you two and read until you both fell asleep and then your daddy used to carry you both to your rooms." Louise laughed as she remembered that. One time she had come to visit for a week from Montgomery, and after witnessing the ritual Jean had explained that it was the only possible way to get both of the children to fall asleep at a decent hour.

After a few moments, Louise got up and went back to her trunk. Since it was nearly empty, it wasn't hard for her to find the perfume that she had brought from Montgomery. "I have something special for you to see," she said, fingering the delicate glass bottle. "I found some of your mama's old perfume when I was at your nanny's house, I thought you would want to smell it."

Scout sat upright and watched her aunt carefully, as if she was handling something incredibly precious. Taking the small cap off of the bottle, she handed it to her niece. At first, Scout didn't smell it. Instead she carefully examined the bottle and ran her fingers along the designs in the glass. Louise wondered what her niece was thinking at that moment. Maybe she was imagining her mother dabbing this on herself every morning as she got ready, using the newly found image of her mother as a guide. Slowly, she gently brought the perfume to her nose and smelled it. Again, she smiled. "Did mama smell like this all of the time?"

"It was her absolute favorite, she wore it for as long as I could remember." Louise responded as Scout sniffed the bottle again.

"Did she even use this when I was a baby?" She asked.

"She sure did."

"She smelled awfully nice." Scout said, closing her eyes.

"Whatcha doin', baby?"

"Now that I know what mama looked like and what she smelled like, I'm tryin' to imagine it all together." She said happily.

"Is it nice?"

"It sure is." She responded happily. Louise smiled to herself, feeling incredibly happy (and almost proud) that she had been able to share so much with Scout. Despite the fact that she had been completely happy talking about Jean, a part of her still felt empty. It wasn't fair that she had gotten to spend so much time with her sister, while Scout was merely left trying to imagine what her mother was like.


	6. Chapter 6

After their afternoon of talking about Jean, Scout attached herself to Louise more than she usually did. Even when Jem and Dill had offered for Scout to accompany them, she often declined and would instead spend her days hanging around with her aunt. One day, when Louise needed to go to town to run some errands for Maudie, she couldn't help but to wonder if her niece was growing bored of her company. While Dill had left Maycomb the day before, Louise was still surprised at the fact that Scout had not opted to stay at home with her brother. "Are you sure you don't want to catch up with Jem?" Louise asked as they strolled through the aisles of the Jitney Jungle.

"Nome, I like bein' with you."

"Well I enjoy your company too, sweet."

"What are ya gettin' for Miss Maudie?" Scout asked, and Louise couldn't help but to laugh at how both she and Jem referred to Maudie as 'miss.'

"You can just call her Maudie, you know. She _is_ your cousin." Louise laughed.

"I _know_ that," Scout said, giggling. "Atticus just says it's a nice thing to do."

"I reckon he knows all about that."

"Mm hmm," Scout said as she touched something on the shelf they were passing. "Is she makin' a lane cake?"

"She is," Louise said. "I think it's one of your neighbor's birthday or something."

"Did mama know how to make a lane cake?" Scout asked.

"She didn't. Edie tried to teach us all how to make 'em but the only person who could do it right was Maudie." Louise smirked back. "Your mama was better at cooking than baking."

"Did Atticus like her cooking?"

"I suppose he did, he ate it with no complaint." Louise smirked, making Scout giggle.

"I showed him the picture of her you gave me," Scout said pleasantly. "He liked it an awful lot."

"Did he?"

"Mm hmm, I showed Jem too. We're gonna share it so we both can look at her when we want to." She explained.

"That's awfully sweet."

"Jem told me that when he was real little and when I was a baby, mama used to act out stories for us and that's why he likes playin' pretend so much." Scout said, smiling. "It made me like playing pretend more, too."

"I think that would make your mama real happy. Did you ask your daddy 'bout her?" Louise enquired as she examined something before putting it in her shopping basket.

"I asked him what his favorite thing about mama was." She said.

"And what did he say?"

"He said _everything_ and I told him that he had to pick somethin' specific."

"Then what did he say?"

"He said his favorite thing 'bout her was her brain 'cause she could have a serious conversation but could also get silly and had a wild imagination. That's almost exactly what he said!" Scout replied happily. "He told me an' Jem that mama made him well-rounded, but I didn't know what he meant by that."

"I think he meant that your mama helped him not be so serious and stiff all the time." Louise said, smiling down at Scout.

"Maybe that's why he's so _borin'_ now, since she's not here to help him out." Louise almost snorted with laughter.

"I don't think your daddy's _that_ bad. He's got you and Jem to keep him on his toes." She assured Scout.

"Yeah, but he doesn't do nothin'. He's not like my friend's daddies." Scout said, sighing softly to herself.

"I can assure you that your daddy is probably ten times smarter than all of those men combined," Louise said, for some reason feeling especially protective of her brother-in-law. "He's interesting in his own right, you'll see one day."

Perhaps she was so inclined to defend him because of the trial he had been assigned. He shared as much information as he could with Louise, and from the sound of it, it did not seem as though there was going to be a good outcome for Atticus _or_ the man he was defending. Soon enough, Louise knew that the town would be talking bad about him, and she wanted to prevent his children from falling into whatever the people in Maycomb were saying. If she could build Atticus up now, maybe it'll be easier for them to sympathize with their father in the future.

Scout sighed again in response. "So," Louise asked, laughing to herself. "What possessed the three of you to play strip poker the other day?"

Scout's face turned red, and she fumbled a little bit. The night before Dill was set to leave Maycomb, the children had been in Miss Rachel's garden playing strip poker. Almost simultaneously, a gunshot came from the Radley house (Nathan had insisted that he suspected an intruder), so when the children came running back home Jem was pantless. It was quite the sight, Maudie and Louise sat in Maudie's room for nearly an hour afterwards laughing about it and they both decided that Jean would have also found it hilarious.

"Dill suggested it." Scout said embarrassedly, looking down at her feet. Louise chuckled and tousled her hair.

"Your mama and I played strip poker once," Louise winked, making Scout's head shoot up.

"No you didn't!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

"We sure did!"

"Was it with that boy you mentioned last summer?" Scout giggled.

"Nope, we played it when we were away at school one year." Louise said. "We played it with a group of girls at midnight! We were caught by the principal and I thought she was goin' to skin us alive."

Scout laughed. "Why'd y'all play it?"

Louise shrugged. " _I_ suggested it. I was always bored there so I thought it'd make things more interestin'."

"Did _you_ get mama in trouble a lot at school?" Scout asked, snickering to herself.

"Honey, she didn't do _anything_ against her will. She was a troublemaker in her own right." Louise responded.

Once they had finally finished purchasing the items for Maudie, Louise and Scout went looking for Jem. Since he was basically abandoned by both Dill and Scout, he had taken to sitting in the treehouse with a tall glass of lemonade and a book. "He-ey, traitor." He said to Scout as she and Louise both stood by the opening of the treehouse with their hands on their hips, watching Jem.

"Aw, hell." Scout said in response. Louise probably should have told her not to say that, but she found it too amusing to even think of correcting her.

"Do y'all want to do somethin'?" Louise asked as Jem marked the page he was on in the book and shut it.

"I dunno." He said as Scout shrugged.

"Do y'all have bikes? We can go riding around town!" Louise suggested. She hadn't ridden a bike in _forever_ , but it was her favorite thing to do with her sisters during the summer.

"We don't have any," Jem said, sitting up. "Anyway, we don't know how to ride 'em."

"How do you not know how to ride a bike? Didn't Atticus teach you?" Louise asked in disbelief.

" _He_ doesn't ride bikes, Aunty." Scout said.

"Get out of that tree house," She said to Jem. "We're goin' to town. I'll get a bike and teach you both on it."

"I don't know about this," Scout said nervously as Jem climbed down from the treehouse.

"Honey, it's real fun. I promise." Louise said quickly. "I rode them all the time so I'll be a real good teacher."

Jem and Scout still both looked quite hesitant about the idea. "Did mama know how to ride a bike?" Scout asked slowly.

"She did, we used to ride 'em all the time with Hattie and kids in our neighborhood." Louise informed them. Jem and Scout both gave each other a look and then directed their gaze towards their aunt again.

"Well I reckon we could try," Jem said. "But we can't get a girly one."

"That's the spirit!" Louise laughed, clapping her hands together.

The closer they got to town, the more excited Jem and Scout seemed about the prospect of learning how to ride a bike. Now that she thought about it, Louise wasn't quite surprised at the fact that Atticus didn't know how to ride a bike either. She found herself wondering if Jack had ever learned how to ride one, and silently made it her mission to teach him if he didn't know how to already. Once they arrived to the small department store in town, Louise located a corner where a few bikes stood. "Aunt Lou, can we get _this_ one?" Scout asked, touching the handles of a gray bike. "It's gray, like mama's favorite color!"

"I like that one," Jem said in agreement.

"It's settled then!" Louise said, thanking God that this had been much easier than she thought.

After purchasing the bike, Louise rode it home slow enough so that the children could walk on either side of her. They observed her, and after a few minutes Jem said: "this doesn't look _too_ hard." Louise smiled to herself, this was coming along to be a pretty easy task.

However, when the time came for her to actually teach them how to ride, Louise found that the mission she assigned herself was much harder than she anticipated. "What are y'all afraid of?" She asked as both Jem and Scout refused to take a try. "One of you just sit on it and I'll help steady you. I won't let go until you're ready!"

Despite her copious amount of coaxing, Jem and Scout looked at the bike like it was evil. "You saw me ridin' it! It's easy once you try."

Jem and Scout glanced at each other. "I guess I'll go first." Jem said slowly.

"There we go," Louise said, smiling to herself. "I don't think you'll regret it!"

Unfortunately, Jem did come to regret it. When he first got on the bike with the assistance of his aunt, it seemed as though things would go smoothly. He rode up and down the street twice with Louise holding onto the bike to steady him, and he seemed to be really enjoying it. However, when both he and Louise agreed that it was time for her to let go, things took a disastrous turn. It started out alright enough, with Jem effortlessly gliding down the street. However, when he tried to turn the bike around, he turned on the handlebars too hard, breaking them off. From a distance, Louise and Scout watched as Jem (still holding onto the detached handlebars) lost his balance and tumbled onto the street. For a moment, Louise and Scout merely looked at each other with their mouths open before they went running in the direction of Jem.

"Jem! Jem!" Scout called as she ran. "Jem are you dead?"

"Scout I'm fine!" He replied, annoyed. As Louise and Scout got closer, Louise could see that his chin, palms, elbow and knees were scraped up. He was still holding onto the handlebars.

"Oh baby, that looks so awful." Louise said, putting her hands to her mouth. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he grumbled as he stood up. Looking at the handlebars in his hand, he tossed it next to the mangled bike. "Sorry it got ruined."

Trying not to laugh, Louise shook her head. " _I'm_ sorry it banged you up." She replied.

"I'm glad it's broken 'cause there's no way I was gettin' on that _damn_ thing." Scout said with disgust. Then, Louise burst into laughter.

She tried to stop herself, but couldn't. Jem and Scout both watched her curiously as she looked at the bike and laughed away. She couldn't help but to find it funny, Jem had looked like Jean when the same thing happened to her. "What's funny, Aunty?" Scout asked. Wiping tears from her eyes, Louise chuckled again before picking up the mangled bike and dragging it towards their house. She told Jem and Scout to sit on the porch while she got a wet rag for Jem to wipe off his cuts with. Moments later, they all sat on the porch swing while Jem tended to his wounds.

"Why were you laughin', Aunty?" Scout asked again.

"When your mama and I were younger, we used to race our bikes all around our neighborhood with some of the kids." Louise began. "Your mama was exactly your age, Jem, when I decided I was sick of her beatin' me in the race so I decided to loosen the handlebars of her bike."

Jem and Scout both looked at her in amazement. "What happened?" Jem asked.

"Why, she went down just like you did." Louise laughed. "We used'ta race down this hill, and at the last minute I decided I wasn't going to race so I could see what happened. Jean was goin' so fast but then all of a sudden her hands were in the air and she was all tangled up in the bike. She ended up cutting her legs up real bad from it."

"Was she hurt worse than Jem?" Scout asked.

"Eh, she was fine." Louise shrugged. "She got up so quick and pushed me off of my bike as payback. Everyone stopped the race to watch us rollin' down the street pullin' each other's hair."

Scout gasped as Jem laughed. "Did y'all just stay there?" He asked, a grin on his face.

"We fought there for a little while and Aunt Hattie had watched it all happened and got so worried that she went runnin' to Aunt Bea," Louise said. "By the time Bea could calm her down to figure out what happened, your mama and I had stopped fighting and had gotten some ice cream and were eatin' it at the park."

"Y'all seem like you were a trip," Jem said, rubbing at the cut on his chin. "Maybe that's why nanny's so strict."

"I think she needed to be with four crazy daughters like us." Louise winked. Looking over at Scout, she noticed that her niece looked deep in thought. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, baby?"

"Did you call mama Jean?" She asked.

"That was her name," Jem informed her.

"Like me?"

"Well, your mama's full name was Eugenia, but she absolutely _hated_ it. She thought it made her sound like a boring old lady." Louise said as both Scout and Jem chuckled. "She hated it so much that we used to call her completely different names, but Aunt Bea told us to stop with our nonsense and called her Jean. Your cousin's used'ta call her Jeannie, too."

"My name's Jean Louise, after mama and you?" Scout asked.

"Your daddy thought it was fittin'."

Jem laughed. "After hearin' _your_ stories about mama, I agree with him." He decided, making Scout smile further.

-o-o-o-

When it became clear that Jem and Scout were going to have a harder time in school that year as a result of Atticus' upcoming trial, Louise made no immediate plans to return to Montgomery. Despite the fact that she was living at Maudie's house, rather than in a place of her own, she was always waiting for Jem and Scout on Maudie's porch with a slab of bread and butter waiting for them as an homage to her aunt. As they ate their bread, they would discuss the happenings of their days.

Jem, overall, seemed to be enjoying school far more than his sister was. He loved explaining what he was learning in his history and English lessons, and was always willing to tell his sister anything she wanted to hear about what they did in sixth grade. When asked if his classmates ever said anything distasteful at him, Jem merely replied that he minded his own business. Scout, on the other hand, hastily responded to her gossipy classmates with fists and insults. Louise could tell that Atticus was growing quite exhausted with his daughter's behavior and although he personally sat Scout down to explain that what she was doing wasn't right, Louise attempted to assist him by giving Scout some advice of her own. The words of both Atticus and her aunt seemed to have calmed Scout down to an extent. Though she still didn't enjoy school, she made a bigger effort to keep her fists to herself.

Maycomb during the school year wasn't too different than Maycomb during the summer. While Jem and Scout spent most of their day at school, everything else went along normally. Once the children returned home from school, Louise would sit with them and read while they did their assignments. On most evenings, she ate supper with them rather than with Maudie. Louise thoroughly enjoyed this time she had with Jem and Scout, and despite the fact that Edie kept pestering her about when she would return to Montgomery, Louise still made no immediate plans for going home.

One day, while Louise was waiting on Maudie's porch, she noticed Nathan Radley doing something with a tree on his property. Shortly after, she watched as Jem and Scout ran up to their neighbor and inquired about what he was doing. Even with the distance between them, Louise could tell that they seemed distressed. Later, when she asked them about what had been bugging them, they went silent and continued to sulk for the remainder of the afternoon. She tried to remember a time when she and her sisters would hide things from Edie or any of the aunts, but all of those women had been so pushy that hiding _anything_ from them was nearly impossible. Deciding not to be like that, Louise had let them work their feelings out on their own.

Shortly after that strange incident, it seemed as though the children were fine. They went to school, played and did everything else they normally did so Louise found no reason to further worry about them. Soon enough, they were their same chipper selves and it almost seemed as though nothing had been bothering them in the first place.

Strangely enough, it seemed as though winter was actually going to come to Alabama that year. Usually summer would progress to fall, which would last for months before eventually progressing to spring. It usually never got too cold and it most certainly never snowed. Louise never complained about that, though. After going to school in the north for most of her childhood, she had gotten to know the cold and snow and absolutely _hated_ it. However, when she woke up one morning to see a light sprinkling of snow on the ground, she couldn't help but to roll her eyes. She knew that the light dusting that was on the ground would be the only snow anyone in Maycomb would see that day, but she still detested it. She hated when it snowed and rained, it was too much of a hassle and made people act like fools.

She had hardly been surprised when Jem and Scout came knocking on Maudie's front door that morning. "Aunty!" They both called in unison as they knocked. Early that morning, Maudie had seen the weather and had immediately gone outside to tend to her flowers. As Louise quickly ate her breakfast, she could hear her cousin bantering back at Jem and Scout.

"Aunty it's snowin!" Scout called. "I thought that the world was endin'!"

"School was cancelled and we're goin' to try to build a snowman! Do ya wanna help?" Jem asked.

"If you two think you're going to build anything with that, you're poorly mistaken." Maudie laughed as Louise came out onto the porch. Looking around at her surroundings, she immediately knew her cousin was right.

"Honey, I don't think you're gonna get much with what's out here." Louise said, shrugging.

"I got an idea, though!" Jem said happily.

Once Jem and Scout began wheeling dirt to the backyard, Louise had politely opted to sit and watch them build their snowman. While Louise usually didn't mind getting dirty for the sake of Jem and Scout, mud mixed with the rain/snow was just something that she didn't want to deal with. Instead, Jean pulled one of the chairs off of the front porch and into the backyard so that she could sit and watch them. While she wasn't particularly fond of the fact that she was cold and wet, watching Jem and Scout make their snowman had actually been quite enjoyable.

By the time they were done, the children were dirty, tired but extremely proud of what they had done. After showing Atticus the messy creature, they made some adjustments to it, but Louise still found it quite impressive. Since Jem and Scout were so tired from their little adventure that day, Louise thought it best that she spent supper with Maudie and let the children go to bed early. When she came home, she found that Maudie was also tired from her day spent tending to her flowers. Tired from the cold, the two drank a cup of tea before Maudie lit a fire in the kitchen to keep her plants warm and the two of them went up to bed.

The next thing Louise recalled was Maudie shaking her awake. "Honey," Maudie hissed. "Honey grab anything you can and get outside."

"Hrmph?" Louise groaned groggily, wiping her eyes.

"Honey the house is on fire and you _need_ to get out!" Louise immediately shot out of bed. Quickly looking around the room, she grabbed her robe, assessed her belongings and decided to grab the nearly empty trunk by her bedside. Before going outside, she assisted Maudie in grabbing some small belongings, but they were soon stopped by Maudie's neighbor Mr. Underwood. "You two get outta here already!" He called. "The house is burnin' down for Christ's sake!"

Still not quite awake, Louise and Maudie walked a safe distance before she put her trunk on the ground and sat on it. "What happened?" she asked her cousin tiredly.

"It must've been that damn fire in the kitchen." Maudie said, and this was the first time Louise had heard her cousin curse before. "Honey, I'm sorry."

"It's _your_ house," Louise said. " _I'm_ sorry."

Maudie sighed. "It's quite alright."

Neighbors quickly came out of their houses as the fire got more rampant. Down the street, Louise noticed Jem and Scout standing by the Radley house looking still and tired. Meanwhile, Atticus approached Maudie and Louise and the three of them watched as neighbors teamed together to save Maudie's belongings. She wasn't sure how long they had been out there, but by the time the fire had been extinguished the sun was coming up. The house had burned to the ground.

Louise apologized profusely, though she didn't know why she felt inclined to. She assumed it was because this had been the house that Maudie had lived in with Robert, and now it was entirely gone. "Honey!" Maudie exclaimed as she walked towards what used to be her front yard. "You know it's fine. I hated that house anyway, it was far too big for me."

Louise laughed, she had always appreciated how resilient Maudie had been. "What are you doin'?" She asked her cousin.

"Cleanin' up, of course."

"Want me to help?"

"No way, ma'am. I know you hate the dirt, you should go get some sleep." Maudie said as she began trying to salvage some of the plants in the yard.

"You're crazy, you should sleep yourself."

Maudie gave her cousin a look over her shoulder. "The longer I can stay away from Stephanie Crawford, the better."

During the night, Stephanie had extended an invitation to Maudie to stay with her until her new house was ready. Naturally, Louise had decided to stay with Atticus and the children until she was set to return to Montgomery for the holidays. Louise laughed and shook her head at Maudie before headed towards Atticus' house.

When she entered the house, the children called for her from the kitchen. Tiredly, she entered the room and saw them looking just as groggy drinking hot chocolate at the table. "Do you want some, Aunty? We have a mug for you." Scout asked sleepily.

"I'm just gonna go lie down, sweets." She replied.

"Atticus put your trunk in your room for you," Jem said as she left the kitchen. As soon as she entered the room she threw herself on the bed, though she found that she couldn't sleep. Instead, she laid there with her eyes closed.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she heard a faint knocking on her door. "Mm hmm?" she mumbled as the door creaked open and Jem and Scout peaked their heads through.

"We're not goin' to school today 'cause of the fire," Jem said softly. "D'you mind if we lay with you?"

"I don't mind," she replied as they slowly made their way to the bed, laying on either side of her.

"Were you scared, Aunty?" Scout asked as she nestled her head in Louise's side. "Of the fire?"

"I wasn't sure what was goin' on."

"Atticus said he saw Boo Radley, he gave me a blanket." Scout said, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"We missed him," Jem continued.

Louise stroked Scout's head. "He probably noticed you were cold, sweet."

"I don't think I like the snow." Scout said, making Louise chuckle.

"Me either." Jem said, his voice sounding thick from being so tired.

"I'm not the biggest fan of it." Louise replied.

"Did mama ever see the snow?" Scout asked.

"Mm hmm, we went to school in the north so it snowed a lot in the winter."

"Did she like it?"

"She _loved_ it."

"I bet she would've liked our snowman, Jem." Scout told her brother, he mumbled something incoherent in response.

"She would, baby." Louise told them. Moments later, the three of them fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

As she got older, Louise learned to appreciate family Christmases more and more. From the moment she was no longer confined to the kid's table, she found that it was actually an enjoyable holiday. Since the passing of her sisters, the celebrations had gotten progressively simpler with each passing year. She was grateful for this, especially since the two Christmases she spent without her family had by far been the least complicated holidays she had ever celebrated.

Christmas day had almost seemed like an ordinary day. If it weren't for the copious amount of food, the decorations and the presents, it probably would have been a normal day. Most of the morning had been spent sitting in the parlor with Clara, Libby and Edie relaxing and chatting. Compared to the Christmases during her childhood, it almost seemed as though Louise was with an entirely different family (though she couldn't complain about that at all). As the afternoon approached, Addie and Sarah joined the family in simply mulling about the house. Originally, Maudie was supposed to make her annual trip to Montgomery (which she wasn't too fond of), but was conveniently able to get out of her trip this year by claiming that everything that had happened with her house was too exhausting for her.

Ever since Jean married Atticus, it was tradition for them to spend Christmas day with his family, and spend a few days in Montgomery afterwards. At first, Edie had been wary about the fact that Jean didn't spend Christmas with _her_ family but had eventually come to accept it. During the first few years of Jean's marriage, especially when Jem was a baby, Edie would spend more time fussing about the week after Christmas than the actual holiday itself. Louise and Harriet didn't mind, it gave them peace during the holiday and time to prepare for the copious amount of chores Edie would assign them. Now that Jean had passed, Edie spent even more time preparing for the arrival of Atticus and the children. Especially with their mother gone, Edie wanted Jem and Scout to associate Jean's family with good memories.

Since Jean's passing, it was usually only Atticus and the children who would visit Montgomery, which Louise was thankful for, because she wasn't sure if she would be able to handle spending a few days with Alexandra. Louise was incredibly delighted to hear that Jack would be accompanying his brother to Montgomery that year. Edie figured it was because Louise was home for she hadn't seen the man since before Jean passed.

"Are you excited your cousins are comin'?" Louise asked her nieces on Christmas afternoon while the three of them sprawled out on the floor, drowsy from the meal Edie had served them. Both girls nodded.

"It's always fun when they come," Clara yawned, rolling onto her stomach. "I can act like a kid with them and nanny doesn't seem to mind." She added, chuckling.

"I like when they come," Libby said, resting her chin on her hands. It always seemed so remarkable to Louise that Clara and Libby turned out to be two completely different people. Clara seemed to be the typical twenty-year-old. After finishing primary school, Clara decided she wanted to study to be a nurse. While she could have gone anywhere, she decided to stay in Alabama and moved to Birmingham. Despite the fact that she was merely two hours away, Edie constantly worried about Clara. As far as Louise could tell, Clara was doing just fine. On the other hand, she couldn't help but to worry about Libby. She had barely been a few months old when her brother died and had been raised by everyone except her actual mother. Louise didn't know much about Libby's relationship with Charlotte before her death, but she assumed it was probably nonexistent. Even though Edie attempted to form her granddaughters into strong women, Libby was meek, quiet and easily intimidated. As she got older, she was starting to come into her own a little bit more, but the amount of time she spent hiding in her room was still worrisome.

"Maybe while they're here I can take the four of y'all to do something in town." Louise thought aloud. Clara smiled.

"That'd be nice, I remember when Jeannie used'ta take me and Libby around with Jem when she'd visit." Clara said, and Louise thought that Jean would love that she still used the nickname she gave her when she was a child.

"I remember that, too." Libby said, sitting up so she could better look at her sister. "Remember that one time before Scout was born and Jem got lost in the town market and the three of us had to go runnin' everywhere for him?"

Clara laughed. "Oh hell I do, I remember we thought that she was goin' to have the baby in the middle of the market, that's how worked up she got!"

The three of them chuckled as Louise rolled over onto her back. She had expected her first Christmas home in two years to be more stressful, but was genuinely happy about the fact that those expectations were not met.

-o-o-o-

A few days after Christmas, the Finches arrived. Jack was the first one to boisterously enter the house and was already causing havoc by attempting to swing both Louise and Harriet over his shoulders (nearly knocking over one of Edie's bookshelves). While Clara and Libby thought he was highly amusing, Edie watched sternly (and looked as if she was going to have a heart attack at how her daughters interacted with him). Atticus soon followed his brother, laughed and told him he should have at least waited a few hours before disturbing the peace at the Graham residence. Surprisingly, Jem and Scout immediately flocked to their grandmother, whose demeanor changed once she came across her youngest grandchildren.

Examining Scout, who was wearing a thick green dress (Louise wondered if Atticus picked it out because it was definitely not fitting for an eight-year-old), Edie shook her head. "Honey, do you like that thing?" she asked Scout, ruffling the dress.

"I reckon so, nanny." She responded meekly.

"Tell me the truth, ma'am."

"No, nanny."

Edie smiled. "I found a rather sharp lookin' pair of overalls the other day, and they're settled in the spare room if you wanna put 'em on quickly."

Scout's eyes light up. "Thank you, nanny!" She said excitedly before running up the stairs. Louise couldn't help but to look at her mother in disbelief—she never _ever_ thought that Edie would buy any of her granddaughters a pair of overalls.

"What?" Edie asked, noticing Louise looking at her.

"Oh nothin'." Louise chuckled.

Due to Edie's insistence, it was tradition for the Finch's to arrive early in the day. Once Jean had children and denied them of their grandmother on Christmas Day, Edie wanted to do her best to recreate the holiday once the children arrived. Once Scout had changed into the pair of overalls that Edie kindly bought for her, they all sat in the parlor like they did on Christmas morning. Edie had a gift for Atticus, Jem and Scout (at the last minute she scavenged something up for Jack) and had also put something aside for her other granddaughters so that all of the grandchildren would be included. Cleverly, Louise wrapped up the copy of _The Importance of Being Earnest_ she stole from Jack ages ago and gave it to him. Once he opened it, he scowled at her and said: "spiteful woman."

Smirking, Louise shrugged her shoulders. "I've figured it's somethin' you been missin'."

"You sure are a real trip."

Edie glanced at both of them. Once, early in Jean and Atticus' marriage, the Finch's and the Graham's attempted to have a holiday with all of them together. Though it started out fairly well, it progressively became the worst Christmas both Edie and Alexandra had ever experienced. Purposefully, Jack and Louise bickered and carried on as loudly as possible (at twenty-two years old she had almost been banished to the kid's table again). In addition to that, Clara had vomited all over herself during dinner (much to the horror of Edie) and after ignoring each other for the entire evening, Atticus' sister Caroline and her husband angrily announced that they were getting a divorce. Needless to say, Alexandra didn't even finish her dinner before she turned stark white and secluded herself in her room for the rest of the evening. There was never again an attempt for both families to come together for a holiday. Both Jean and Louise had thought it was a shame, the entire evening was like a huge drama production for them.

Edie had bought Jem and Scout each a bow and arrow set, which set Jack into a fit of hysterical laughter. Apparently, Atticus had also purchased them air rifles that year. While Jem and Scout were clearly excited about their new possessions, Louise couldn't help but see that Atticus was looking a little wary. "The next time you come to Maycomb, you may find me shot down by them." He chuckled at Louise, who grinned in response.

"It looks like you'll have to sleep with one eye open." She winked, making Jack laugh again.

"That won't help him any, the man's nearly blind. He's done for." Jack grinned, making Louise and Hattie laugh.

Thankfully for Edie's sake, there was no major mishaps at dinner (though Louise had been almost glad to hear that Alexandra had to deal with some chaos at her house). Shortly after their arrival, Addie and Sarah had come by to join them all for a second "Christmas" dinner. Jem and Scout eagerly talked to everyone at the table, while Jack and Atticus were forced to answer the numerous questions that Sarah, Addie and Edie asked them. Occasionally, Louise and Hattie would flash both men sympathetic smiles (naturally, Jack responded with a scowl).

After dinner, Edie sat on the sofa with Jem and Scout on either side of her as she continued to ask them questions about school, friends and everything else in their lives. Atticus settled himself in the armchair across from them, watching their interactions. Before their arrival, Atticus had informed Edie (who naturally told Louise and Hattie) that Scout had gotten into an altercation with Alexandra's grandson. He didn't say much else about the matter, except for the fact that Francis' ego was severely bruised and Scout's hand was cut up from punching him in the face. Surprisingly, Edie didn't ask her granddaughter about the incident. If it had been one of her daughters, Louise knew that Edie would not hesitate to criticize the situation and profusely express her opinions on it.

Feeling stuffy, Louise settled herself on Edie's porch swing. Noticing her leaving, Jack quickly followed. "Hey." He said, sitting next to her.

"Hey yourself."

"Did ya hear about Alexandra's?" He asked.

Louise smirked. "Of course I did, Atticus called Edie to tell her what happened."

"I whaled on her," he said, a hint of regret on his voice.

"What?"

"When Francis said she punched him I just jumped to conclusions and smacked her in front of everybody. It was embarrassin'." He explained further.

"For you or her?"

"I think both." He said slowly. "Would you have done the same?"

"Smacked her?"

" _Yes_."

"No," she replied truthfully, and she thought she probably made him feel worse. "I'm no good at those types of things. I'm the aunt that gives unsolicited advice and tells them about their mama, obviously _you're_ the one who does the disciplining."

"This ain't funny."

She sighed. "If I were there I don't think I would've stopped you."

"She told me I didn't take the time to listen to her side of the story, which I reckon is true." He said. "I felt foolish."

"Kids are good at teachin' things, I reckon."

"Well, I guess I won't be learnin' much 'cause I'm _never_ having children." He scowled, making her laugh.

"Well, children usually come after marriage and considerin' you have no plans for that, I don't think you need to worry. Unless someone drops a baby on your doorstep." She said seriously.

"Ha," He said, rolling his eyes.

"Did she forgive ya?"

"I reckon so."

"Then why are you so glum?" She asked, slapping his arm.

"Just felt stupid, I suppose."

"Well, here's something new: you _are_ stupid." She smirked. He shoved her to the side and chuckled.

"Hateful woman." He said, shaking his head at her.

"I'm just an honest person, darling." She said dramatically, laughing at him.

A serious expression returned to his face. "Have you heard about Atticus' trial?" He asked her, lowering his voice though they were both quite certain that nobody inside could hear them.

"He told me 'bout it last time I was there." She replied.

"It seems bad."

"It'll probably be rough for them." Louise observed as Jack shrugged.

"Probably."

"I guess we'll just need to see what happens." She said as he went quiet for a few moments.

"Did you get your heart checked out?" He asked, making her roll her eyes.

"I have no intentions on doing that." She said bitterly. He merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I heard you tried to teach Jem how to ride a bike," He said, his eyes lighting up as he changed the subject.

"It was terrible. The handlebars just ripped off of the thing!" She recalled, a grin growing on her face.

"Apparently just like their mama." Jack winked. "They told me all of the stories you told 'em."

She smiled. "I figured I might as well make myself useful when I'm there."

"Well, they like it."

"If you're trying to compliment me, thank you."

"Stop being so sentimental, you little hussy." She rolled her eyes and elbowed his side.

-o-o-o-

She decided to pull Jem aside first. "Hey," she whispered to him as he laid on his back on the living room floor. "C'mere." Quickly, he obeyed.

"Yes, Aunty?" He asked as she directed him up stairs. She led him into Jean's old room and told him to sit on the bed. Looking confused, he listened to his aunt.

"I got something for you!" She smiled before quickly going to the dresser, where she had hidden her gifts for Jem and Scout. "Sorry I didn't wrap it," she said as she took a book out and handed it to Jem. Smiling he observed the cover and flipped through the pages.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's a collection of poems by a few different authors," Louise explained as Jem opened the book again. "Your liked poetry and when she was finished school, one of her teachers gave her this as a gift. She would spend hours reading it and she wrote some notes on her favorite poems, even. Some of the pages are fallin' out but I thought you'd like it."

Silently, Jem examined the book again. He opened it up, gingerly fingering the pages. His eyes widened when he got to a poem that Jean had annotated. "Her handwritin' looks like a teachers." He said softly, running his finger across something Jean had written. Louise chuckled to herself. Jem spent some time studying the book before he looked up and gave Louise a small smile. "Thank you, Aunty." He said softly, mindlessly running his finger along the spine of the book.

"I hope you like it, sweet." She smiled, hugging him.

"I do." He said. "Was this mama's room?"

"It was."

"Are we sittin' on her bed?"

"Yep." At this, Jem then began to examine the neatly made bed they were sitting on. Shortly after, his eyes scanned around the entire room.

"Did you and mama share a room?" He asked.

"Nope, she and your Aunt Charlotte did. I slept with Hattie." Louise explained. "I would sneak in here in the morning though to get your mama."

Jem smiled at her. "There was this one poem mama used to say to Atticus all the time," he thought aloud "I wonder if it's in here."

"It might be," Louise replied, smiling.

For a few more moments they sat on Jean's bed until Edie began calling for Jem. Sitting up, he tucked the book under his arm and found his grandmother. Shortly after he left the room, Louise went back downstairs. Hattie and Atticus were discussing something that was in the newspaper while Jack was trying to explain to Addie why he preferred the company of his cat rather than a wife. Scout was sprawled out by Clara's feet, while she and Libby were telling her a story. Louise sat down next to Clara, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

"He-ey, Aunty." Scout said smiling. "Clara was tellin' me about how you and mama used to watch her when she was little."

"We did, we used'ta live down the street from them so we spent an awful lot of time with them." Louise said.

"I wish _I_ lived closer," Scout said, rolling on Clara's feet. Clara laughed and poked at her younger cousin.

"Hey," Louise said as she stood up, offering her arm out to Scout. "I wanna show you somethin' quick."

She directed Scout to Jeans old room just as she had done with Jem. Scout happily walked alongside her aunt and threw herself on her mother's old bed as Louise looked for the gift she picked out for her niece. Opening the small chest that was now sitting on the dresser, she pulled out the small velvet sack and crossed the room to sit with Scout. As she dug through the sack, her fingers grazed Bea's rings (that Louise hadn't looked at since she'd taken them), and she smiled. Finally, she found the delicate necklace she was looking for and handed it to her niece. It was a simple one that Edie had found at a department store and bought for all of her daughters once they were old enough to wear jewelry. It was simply two circles interlocked in each other—in a rare sentimental moment, Edie told her daughters that necklace was supposed to represent how sisterhood lasted forever (or something like that). Straightening out the chain, Scout examined it and then looked at her aunt.

"This is the same one you're wearin'!" She said happily.

"Mm hmm," Louise smiled as she watched Scout struggle to put the necklace on herself. Putting her hands out, Scout dropped the necklace into her aunt's hands and accepted her help. "When we were younger Edie bought all of us these necklaces, she said it was supposed to represent sisterhood or somethin'. When your Aunt Charlotte passed, Edie kept her necklace for Clara and was thankfully able to find a similar one for Libby. Your Aunt Hattie and I have one, and when your mama passed Edie gave me this one to hold on to for you for when you were old enough to wear it. It's a simple thing, but all of us liked it an awful lot."

Scout smiled and looked down at the necklace. "So this was my mamas?" She asked eagerly.

Louise smiled. "Mm hmm, she wore it every day." Scout's eyes brightened as Louise said this.

"Did mama like wearin' jewelry?" She asked.

"She had a few things she liked, but she was a pretty simple lady so she didn't have too much." Louise responded.

"One time Atticus told me that he had a pearl necklace that belonged to her that he was gonna give me one day." Scout said proudly as Louise smoothed her hair.

"I reckon he does, he bought her one for Christmas when he first started courtin' her," Louise informed her. "Your mama told me that people in town used to think she was silly because she would always wear her two necklaces at the same time, but she liked 'em both so much she wanted to wear 'em at the same time."

Scout snickered. "Mama seemed like she didn't care what people said."

"She didn't at all." Louise said.

"What do you think she would do?" Scout asked. "About people talkin' 'bout Atticus like they do in town?"

When Scout said this, Louise couldn't help but to feel bad for her and then slightly angry at the fact that people could be so relentless. She could only imagine the things that were being said to Atticus and the kids. "Honestly," Louise said, sitting up. "She would politely tell them to go to hell."

"How do you do _that_?" Scout asked, laughing.

"You tell 'em to do it without bein' upfront," Louise informed her. "She would say something sarcastic so that people would think she was bein' nice, but she's actually bein' snarky."

"That's pretty smart," Scout said as Louise nodded in agreement. "Do you think mama would be mad at Atticus for takin' his case?"

"The only time your mama ever got mad at your daddy was when he told her she looked like an old lady when she was angry," Louise smirked, making Scout laugh again. "Your mama always supported what your daddy did."

"Even when people in town think he's wrong?" Scout asked.

"Especially then."

"Would they still be sayin' things about him if mama was alive?"

Louise sighed. "Honey, that wouldn't change other people bein' dumb."

"At least mama seemed real nice." Scout smiled.

"She was, baby."


	8. Chapter 8

Louise remained in Montgomery after the children had left. She and Hattie celebrated the New Year by drinking some of her husband's whiskey in her living room while listening to the radio at an obscenely high volume while Scott, her husband, was out with his friends. Their heads were swimming so much from the whiskey that they couldn't even tell what was playing. It was then, as Hattie was nearly sliding of the couch that she declared that she and Scott had been sleeping in different rooms.

Louise coughed in response. "Um, alright." She said, staring at Hattie with a perplexed look on her face.

Hattie's face was flushed, whether it by the alcohol or Louise's reaction to her, Louise couldn't quite tell. "Look at us," she said, throwing her hands in the air. "We're a mess, the whole family is."

"If you're going to go on some philosophical rampage I'm leavin' right now." Louise said firmly, though she had no intentions of leaving.

"Listen to me," Hattie said seriously. "I think we were cursed when Simon died."

Louise couldn't help but to laugh loudly. "You need to stop drinkin', it's makin' you crazy."

"I'm serious!" Hattie cried. "Just think about it: Simon dies and the whole family goes to hell. Charlotte starts drinkin' and basically becomes an invalid, damaging her children and then she dies. We think Jean is going to have a normal life and she dies, and they leave us two complete messes. I don't think our hearts are gonna go out on us I think we're gonna go crazy from the people around us and mama'll have to visit us in an asylum or somethin'."

Louise stared at her sister, trying her hardest not to laugh at her. "Honey," she said, moving Hattie's glass far away from her. "I'm officially banning you from drinking anymore."

Hattie looked sad as she sank deeper into the sofa. "Lou, I think we're gonna end up like Edie."

"She's not _as_ bad anymore." Louise pointed out.

"She lost two of her daughters and you can just tell that she's been different ever since." Hattie pointed out.

"Well, I guess it's good that we don't have children to lose."

"But we've got everyone else!" Hattie cried out. "We've already lost daddy, Simon, Charlotte, Jean—"

"You listin' all of them is just wastin' time." Louise interrupted.

"I think everyone's gonna die before us and we'll just be left here alone." Hattie said sadly.

Louise, trying to lift her sister's spirits shrugged in response. "At least we can be together." She suggested. "We can become cranky old women who scare children from our porch."

Hattie glared at Louise. "You're not funny."

"Of course I am, you're just too serious." Louise said. "Picture it: we can sit on our front porch and take our dentures out to scare people."

Hattie chuckled to herself, though she still looked sad. "That would be awfully funny."

-o-o-o-

After that whiskey-induced incident, Hattie never once mentioned any marital problems or fears about her future, and Louise vowed to herself that she would _never_ allow her sister to drink in her presence again. Things went along normally; Clara returned to Birmingham, Libby returned to her hermit tendencies and Edie continued to sell candy on the weekends at the market that was held in the middle of the city each weekend. One day in mid-June, as Louise was preparing to spend the day with Hattie, Edie stopped her in her tracks and told Louise that she had to do _something_ productive and that she was going to help her at the market. When Louise gave her a quizzical look, Edie sighed.

"You're nearly thirty-eight, Eugenia," she said, before catching herself and sighing again. "Louise just come with me."

Shrugging, Louise agreed and it appeared as though Edie was surprised at how easy it had been to convince her usually stubborn daughter to accompany her. However, once Jean was forced to sit outside at Edie's stand while her mother's old friends gawked over her, asked her how she was holding up and asked her what she was doing with her life, Louise soon came to regret her decision to go. Since Louise had accompanied her, Edie had wandered off to chat with someone, leaving Louise to watch over the stand.

"Well, don't you look excited to be here?" A familiar voice asked, sounding amused. When Louise looked up (she had been staring at a bug crawling in front of her) she saw Atticus standing before her. She looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Hey," she said slowly, getting up to hug her brother-in-law. "I had no clue you were comin'."

"I told Edith I was coming just yesterday," Atticus informed her. "The governor has called an emergency meeting of the legislature, I'll probably be here for a couple of weeks."

"Well, that's nice!" Louise said, though she wasn't entirely sure if having to endure legislative meetings for weeks on end would be too nice. "Did you bring the children with ya?"

"I didn't," Atticus responded. "I'm still not quite sure how long I will be here, so I have Cal stayin' with them."

Louise smiled as she settled herself back onto the stool she was sitting on. "You can sit on Edie's stool," she said as he took her suggestion and sat down. "Wanna piece of candy? Edie won't notice it's missin'."

"I'm fine," he said politely, smiling at her.

For a few moments that sat in silence, observing the people shopping around the different stations of the market. A couple of times random children would come to Edie's station to buy some candy, but it wasn't entirely too busy. Edie had come to check up on Louise and was incredibly embarrassed when she realized that it completely slipped her mind that Atticus was coming.

"Honey, you don't have to sit here all day! Libby can fix up the guest bed and you can rest up, you probably have a lot of work ahead of you." Edie had said, but Atticus dismissed her.

"I'm fine," he shrugged. "I always enjoyed the city, and I figured I could keep Louise here company."

Edie smiled at him, told him he could help himself to whatever she had, and went off to assist the person who was in charge of the flower station. As she left, Louise chuckled and shook her head. "She's too preoccupied worryin' about other people that she doesn't even pay attention to her own stand. If I weren't here she'd probably be robbed or something."

Atticus smiled to himself. "Instead of stealing candy from a baby, it'd be stealing candy from an old lady." Louise laughed. "Um," he cleared his throat (making Louise nervous, he was never one to stall). "I wanted to talk to you about something while I was here."

"Alright," she said pleasantly, smiling at him.

"Were you planning on coming to Maycomb again?" He asked slowly.

"Yeah," she answered, nodding her head. "I'm not sure when, but I was hopin' to come sometime soon."

"I was wonderin' if you could come back with me, and if you could stay for a while?" He asked seriously.

"What do you mean by a while?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

He cleared his throat. "At least for the summer," he stated. "I was also hoping if you wouldn't mind staying next summer as well? That's when the trial is." He explained.

"Of course," Louise replied, smiling. "I could probably stay through the year, I would probably come back to Montgomery from time to time but I don't see a problem spending the summers in Maycomb. I love playing around with Jem and Scout."

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, giving her a small smile. "But there is a catch."

Louise's eyes widened. "What is that?" She asked curiously as Atticus sighed.

"Alexandra is going to be staying with me for the foreseeable future," he said as Louise inhaled slowly. "I haven't quite told her of my plans for having you stay, but we can replace the full sized bed in the guest room with two smaller ones—"

"Don't worry about that, I'll just sleep in a cot in the sunroom." She said quickly. The last thing she ever wanted was to share a room with Alexandra Hancock, and she couldn't help but to wonder why she was going to be spending so much time away from the Landing and her husband.

Atticus chuckled and gave her a quizzical look. "Don't be silly," he told her. "That'll ruin your back, and if you stay longer than the summer you'll freeze out there."

"I'll use extra blankets." She suggested. Looking at her with a slightly amused expression on his face, he shook his head.

"We'll just figure everything out when the time comes." He suggested.

"That sounds fine by me." She affirmed, though she wasn't entirely excited about actually _living_ with Alexandra.

-o-o-o-

Atticus was needed in Montgomery for two weeks, and although he spent some time at the Graham household, it was almost as if he was nonexistent and life went on as it usually did. However, Louise spent most of her days agonizing over spending such an extended period of time with Alexandra.

"Hattie," Louise groaned the day before she was set to leave for Maycomb. "What the hell am I goin' to do with Alexandra? Atticus even suggested that we share a room."

Hattie had shrugged. "I mean she doesn't seem _that_ bad." Louise glared at her sister.

"Have you met the woman?" Louise asked testily. If Jean were here, _she_ would understand.

Hattie laughed. "The last time I saw her was that Christmas when I was nineteen and she nearly cried at the dinner table when you and Jack were actin' all a fool and then her sister basically shouted that she was divorcin' her husband." Louise couldn't help but to laugh along with Hattie.

"You didn't have to deal with her and her dumb daily teas," she sneered.

"That was nearly twenty years ago!" Hattie cried. "Maybe she's changed."

"As far as Scout and Jem say, she hasn't." Louise said.

"Well then you can make it your personal mission to make her life a living hell." Hattie winked as Louise groaned again. "You know you'll have fun with it."

As she and Atticus left for Maycomb, Louise figured that she should at least attempt to make the best of living with Alexandra. At least it wasn't like she would be confined in the house for months on end with just Alexandra, Louise thought to herself. Things would go on as usual, and she would make the point of spending more time with Jem and Scout.

Throughout the car ride from Montgomery to Maycomb, Louise had managed to convince herself that maybe Alexandra wasn't as bad as she remembered, that maybe her being out of her element would make her somehow different, nicer even.

However, she didn't even have time to worry about Alexandra when she saw the children.

When the children heard the car stop, they immediately came running outside calling for their father and asking if he knew if Alexandra was staying with them. However, when they caught sight of Louise they immediately rushed to the passenger side of the car. "Aunt Lou!" Jem called out, and Louise couldn't help but to feel that he was slightly relieved at the sight of her. "I didn't know you were comin', too!"

"It was a spur of the moment decision," she said as she gently pushed open the door.

"How long will you be here?" Scout asked, hugging her hip.

"She and your Aunt Alexandra will be staying here for quite a while," Atticus informed Jem and Scout as he got out of the car. Immediately, they rushed to their father and gave him quick hugs. "I thought it would be a good idea."

They both agreed, but after years of lying to Edie about all sorts of things, Louise could sense that they were still a little hesitant. "Won't it be fun having us gals around?" Louise asked playfully, ruffling Jem's hair.

She soon ate her words, because the moment she laid eyes on Alexandra she _knew_ that this would be an uphill battle.

When the four of them entered the living room, they came across Alexandra who was sitting in Atticus' rocking chair sewing something. Louise could've sworn the woman was wearing a corset. "Hello," Alexandra said, not looking up from her sewing.

"He-ey, Alexandra." Louise jeered before Atticus could greet her. The woman's head shot up so fast Louise was quite certain she hurt herself.

"Louise," she said, sounding confused as she put her sewing down next to her and stood up. Examining Louise slowly, Alexandra extended her hand for Louise to shake. "I wasn't aware you were coming."

"She's come the past two summers, Zandra." Atticus explained. "I figured nothing has changed."

Scout came up behind Louise and hugged at her hips again. "I'm glad you're here, Aunty." She grinned. "Can we sleep on the cots tonight?"

Louise noticed the sour expression on Alexandra's face, and smiled almost triumphantly. "Of course we can, sweet." She responded, running her hand through Scout's hair. "Your hair's gettin' mighty long."

Scout giggled as she shook her hair around. "Are you goin' to sleep with Aunty?" She asked.

"I'll just sleep in a cot," Louise said, smiling.

"You can't really plan on doing that." Alexandra said. "We can figure out other arrangements in a few days."

"You could put a cot in _my_ room," Scout suggested, grinning. "It would be awful fun."

"Your Aunt is _not_ going to sleep in a cot," Alexandra said firmly.

Louise scrunched her nose at Scout. "I think that sounds like a mighty good plan, you alright with it Atticus?" Louise winked as she looked over at her brother-in-law. By the look on his face, Louise wondered if he was regretting having both Alexandra and Louise there at the same time.

"If that's what you're comfortable with, I don't see any problem with it." He told her, giving her a small smile. Scout gasped with excitement and hugged at Louise tighter.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Alexandra began before Atticus cleared his throat.

"Zandra, please. It's fine." Atticus said. Louise looked at the other woman and gave her a small wink.

"We won't keep ya up too late, don't worry." She teased. Alexandra did not look amused in the slightest.

-o-o-o-

Living with Alexandra Hancock was even worse than living with Edie. For the first couple of days Louise had tried her best to mind her own business and to leave Alexandra alone. However, Alexandra had just about had it with Louise when she and the children burst in the dining room as Alexandra was hosting some of the ladies from down, covered in dirt from their latest escapade. Dill had not come that summer, Scout had said something about him getting a new daddy so he was spending time with his family. Jem and Scout obviously felt some sort of loss with Dill's absence, so Louise tried her best to ensure that the children still had a great summer. While Jem and Scout were happy with the amount of attention Louise was giving them, Alexandra was not.

"I need to speak with you," Alexandra said through the corner of her mouth, trying to compose herself before returning to her company. "After supper."

Louise's heart sank. She didn't know why, but she was terrified of what she was going to say. It wasn't like Alexandra could tell her to leave—but what if she convinced Atticus to ask her to go? Shaking her head, she decided that she would think of that later. Silently, she poured three glasses of lemonade and was about to bring them out to the children when Cal stopped her.

"Ma'am?" Cal whispered, and Louise felt nervous once again.

"Yeah, Cal?" She asked.

"C'mere for a second," she said, pulling Louise into the pantry. "I wouldn't mind Miss Alexandra too much." Despite the fact that they weren't in earshot of Alexandra, Cal continued to whisper.

"She's awfully stern," Louise admitted, looking down at her feet. "Has she been treatin' you okay, Cal?"

Cal smiled at Louise. "You're just like your big sister," she said, grasping Louise's hand. "She was always worryin' about me, but you don't need to worry ma'am, Mr. Finch treats me just fine and that's all that matters. I just wanted to tell ya that you shouldn' let Miss Alexandra worry you too much, you continue doin' what you're doin'. Every time you come the chillren are so happy and are always tellin' me stories about what they do with you and you just bring em so much joy. I think that's why Mr. Finch had you come while his sister's here, to keep the chillren happy."

Louise smiled at Cal. Jean had loved the woman so dearly ever since Cal started working for the family, and Louise couldn't help but to have a serious fondness for her. "You're very sweet, Cal." Louise smiled, gripping Cal's hand back.

Cal laughed. "Oh dear," she said, wiping at her eyes. "Your sister was always tellin' me things 'bout you and now that you're here it's like her stories are comin' to life. She would always say'ta me 'Cal, Cal you'd never believe it but I was a wild child back in my day' and I would always jus' shake my head and laugh at 'er. Hearin' the chillren tell your stories is almost like havin' her back with me. Boy oh boy do I miss 'er." Cal laughed and shook her head again.

"I miss her, too." Louise gave Cal a small smile. "I feel like bein' with Jem and Scout is almost like bein' with her."

Cal smiled warmly. "It sure is," she said. "That's why you don't let Miss Alexandra bother you none, she can't take that away from you."

"Thank you, Cal." Louise said as they walked out of the pantry.

"You don't need to thank me, ma'am." Cal smiled. Louise collected the lemonades and brought them out to the children.

"Are you in trouble with Aunty, Aunt Lou?" Jem asked, a nervous expression on his face.

"You don't hafta play with us anymore if Aunty don't like it," Scout added though she looked sad as she said it. She handed both of them their drinks.

"Don't be silly!" Louise said, poking at Scout. "I'll play with you for as long as I want to. She can't tell me what to do."

"She seems pretty good at telling Atticus what to do." Scout said glumly as Jem nodded in response.

Atticus had been put in a precarious position ever since Alexandra had moved in with him. Even when Jean was alive, Alexandra had problems with how Jem and Scout were being raised. Alexandra was the most high-strung woman that Louise had ever met, and she was never afraid to hide how she was feeling. For the past month, Louise witnessed Alexandra say snide remarks about things such as "gentle breeding" and what was more "socially appropriate", but held her tongue. She couldn't help but to think that if Jean was here, Alexandra would not have been able to assume so much control.

"You'll see, Atticus is just mindin' her." Louise assured them. "With people like that you need to pick and choose your battles. Can you imagine the hell we'd all be in if he fought her on _everythin'_?"

"You gotta point," Jem said. "I got a question for you."

"Yeah, sweet?"

"Did mama and Aunty get along?" A smirk formed on his face and Louise chuckled.

"Um," She started. "They didn't fight each other on everythin' but they were just … different."

"Did Aunty like mama?" Scout asked.

"I think so."

"One time, right before mama died, I heard Aunty tell Atticus that mama was raisin' me to be wild." Jem said, the smile slowly leaving his face. "That doesn't sound like she liked her too much."

Scout glared. "Aunty tells everyone to be polite but that doesn't sound too nice."

"It doesn't one bit." Louise said before looking at Jem. "I think it's important to understand that your mama and our family are different types of people than your Aunty. I don't think she _didn't_ like your mama, she just didn't understand her."

Jem sighed and Scout still looked highly displeased. "I bet if mama was alive Aunty wouldn't be here."

"Probably not." Louise sighed.

-o-o-o-

The evening progressed normally after supper. Atticus went off to his study to read while Scout and Jem mulled about in the living room. Louise, knowing that Alexandra still wanted to talk to her, insisted on helping Cal clean up the dishes. Cal had declined, but once Louise murmured that Alexandra wanted to "give her a talk", Cal allowed Louise to accompany her. Moments later, Alexandra was standing in the doorway, clearing her throat. "Louise," she said. "I would like you to come to my room with me."

"Um, just a minute," Louise said, taking longer than necessary to clean a plate. "I'm just helpin' Cal here."

"I'm sure she can handle it on her own." Alexandra said. "She does it every night."

"Well, I thought I'd give her a hand."

"It doesn't seem too bad, I don't think she would mind if you went with me." Alexandra responded firmly. Inhaling slowly, Louise dried off her hands. Cal gave her a sympathetic look before she followed Alexandra into her room.

"You can sit down." Alexandra said shortly, making Louise feel inclined to sit on her bed. Alexandra stood in front of her in a way that made Louise have to look up at her, which Louise hated. "I wanted to talk to you about your behavior."

 _Okay, Edie._ Louise thought to herself as she forced a smile and nodded at the other woman.

Alexandra sighed. "Now, we are all glad that you are here, and certainly the children are ecstatic that you are with them, but I think there needs to be some changes around here. You rolling around in the dirt with them and feeding into their imaginations will certainly hinder them."

Louise let the smile fade from her face, and didn't care if she was giving Alexandra an unsavory look. "I don't understand how it's _hindering_ them, they're children."

Alexandra sighed. "I didn't expect you to understand," she said in a tone that was intended to make Louise feel stupid (which it did). "But the Finch family is a fine name established after generations of gentle-breeding—"

"And the Graham family isn't?" Louise asked, beginning to get angry. Part of her wished Edie was hearing what was coming from Alexandra's mouth, because although Edith Graham respected Alexandra, this could quite possibly boil her blood. Alexandra looked taken aback.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

"All I'm trying to say, _dear_ ," Louise wanted to punch her in the face. "Is that we cannot possibly let generations of fine breeding be put to waste."

Louise shrugged. "I think the children are quite fine, they're well-mannered and polite and also have the most vivid imaginations I've ever seen."

"They run wild, they need to be calmer. You rollin' around in the dirt with them is not helping that." Alexandra said tensely.

"Dear God, it's not like they're going to be rolling around in the dirt their entire lives. They're _children_ this is what _children_ do." It didn't matter what Louise was saying, it wasn't like Alexandra was listening anyway.

"The earlier we start on helping them become a little gentleman and little lady—"

"There'll be plenty of time for that later." Louise said, crossing her arms.

Alexandra sighed in frustration. "I've told Atticus time and time again that them having such an irresponsible influence would not help them," she said, shaking her head. Louise stood up.

"What do you mean by _that_?" She asked, gritting her teeth.

"I'm just saying that you're not exactly the prime example of a lady." Alexandra said coolly. "Jean Louise needs a better example than someone who declared she was going to be a spinster by the time she was eighteen."

"Well I'm sorry I don't meet up to _your_ standards. Did it ever cross your mind that Atticus invited me to stay here so the children weren't overwhelmed by _your_ authoritarian attitude?" Louise asked, her voice rising. Alexandra took a step back, her eyes widening.

"This is _exactly_ what I told Atticus," she said, crossing her own arms. "Jean Louise does not need you here bein' a bad influence when I'm trying to teach her how to be a lady."

Louise opened her mouth and then shut it again. Before she could even think about saying anything, there was a knock on the door. "Come in," Alexandra said as Atticus opened the door and observed both women. It was probably quite the sight for him—both of their faces were flushed and neither of them were hiding their anger any longer.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Just _peachy_." Louise said, her teeth still gritted. "We are just having a _lovely_ chat."

Alexandra looked down at Louise (even standing up, the woman was quite taller than Louise), flaring her nostrils. "We were just talking about what I mentioned to you earlier, brother."

Atticus raised his eyebrows and looked at both women. "Well," he cleared his throat. "I hope it was productive."

"I do too." Alexandra said, quickly glaring at Louise, who simply shrugged.

Atticus paused for a few moments. "Goodnight," he said, giving them a small smile.

"Goodnight, brother, Louise." Alexandra said coolly. Louise thanked God that she was able to escape with Atticus.

"Mind if I make a call?" She asked him softly.

"I don't mind at all." He said as he walked down the hall towards his bedroom. Suddenly, he turned around. "Louise?"

"Yes?" She asked, looking at him.

"Nothing," he said, but then changed his mind. "Grahams are a fine people, too." He gave her a small smile before going back to his room, and Louise chuckled to herself.

Louise had been immensely thankful about the fact that the phone was located far away from the bedrooms. Sighing, she picked up the receiver. Originally, she was going to call Edie and tell her about Alexandra but changed her mind. "Long distance, Nashville, Tennessee." She said softly to the operator. A few minutes later, she gave the second operator Jack's name and address and waited for him to answer.

"Finch," he yawned.

"Hey," she said.

"It's late, so that must mean somethin's happened." He said, sounding a little more awake.

"How are you?" She asked, trying to sound sweet.

"Well, I'm just fine Miss Louise," he responded. She imagined him smirking at her on the other end. "How are _you_?"

"I'm gonna die," she whispered, making him laugh.

"Ha! I'm going to assume you just had a chat with my _lovely_ oldest sister." He said cheerfully. "What did she say?"

"Gentle-breeding," she whispered, making him laugh harder.

"Dear lord." He said. "If only Alexandra's circumstances were different, then you'd be living large in Maycomb without her wonderful presence."

"What the hell do you mean?" She asked.

"Atticus didn't tell you?" He asked.

"Tell me what?"

"You can't tell a soul."

"I promise. You _need_ to tell me."

"Jimmy left Zandra."

" _What_?"

"Honestly I'm not surprised in the least but he went off fishin' and just never came back," she could tell he was trying to hold in his laughter. "She didn't want to be at the Landing on her own so she asked Atticus if she could stay and he felt obliged to say yes."

"He didn't invite her?" She whispered.

"Listen, Atticus loves Zandra but I don't think he'd ever invite her to live with him if he had a choice." Jack said. "He brought you in to counteract her, but I knew that something was goin' to blow up sooner rather than later."

"Honey, this is the calm before the storm." Louise sighed.

"Ha! Maybe _I_ should come to visit. I would _love_ to see you sock my sister square in the jaw." Jack cackled.

"You're just hilarious." Louise said, scowling to herself.

"Kid, don't listen to what she has to say, she's just perpetually cranky." Jack said. "And don't tell anyone what I told you! The last thing we want is her being publicly disgraced, we'd all probably pay for it."

Louise chuckled. "Hopefully she doesn't press my buttons too hard—"

"I'll kill you."

"I would like to see you try."

"Goodnight, vagabond."

"Don't have too much fun in Nashville, you brute." She said before hanging up. Before she went to bed, she considered giving Alexandra an easier time, but decided that she would be denying herself too much fun if she did that. She'll show her the meaning of gentle-breeding.


	9. Chapter 9

For the remainder of the summer, Louise had done her best to mind Alexandra. After the conversation they had that one evening, things had been tense between them but neither of them chose to address it. While she continued to play with the children and allow them to express themselves as they always had, she tried to do at least one thing a day that wouldn't set Alexandra on edge. If the other woman noticed, she didn't say anything. Alexandra remained cool and distant towards Louise, and chose to pretend that Louise didn't exist.

Louise didn't mind, but it did become especially awkward whenever Louise would join Maudie and the other ladies in town for tea or lunch. Even in a social setting, Alexandra would refuse to look at or address Louise. While Louise noticed had obviously noticed Alexandra's stand-offish behavior, she didn't realize the other ladies in town did. After tea one day, Maudie (who was still staying with Stephanie until her new house was ready) asked her to come back to Stephanie's. The solemn look on Maudie's face made Louise nervous. Obligingly, Louise followed Maudie and Stephanie back to Stephanie's house and the two women sat her down at the kitchen table. Before Maude could say anything, Stephanie sat across from Louise with a huge smirk on her face. "So, what did you do to her?" The woman asked. Louise furrowed her brow.

"What did I do to who?" She asked.

"Stephanie, if this wasn't your house I would throw you out." Maudie said, crossing her arms. "What she means is, why in the world is Alexandra acting the way she is?"

Louise shrugged. "Beats me." She lied, not wanting to imagine the look on Alexandra's face if Stephanie twisted anything Louise said and started some nasty rumor.

Maudie gave her cousin a look. "Honey, she didn't even look at you today."

"From my experience with her, she only ignores you if you did something to wrong her." Stephanie winked. Though she was trying to look serious, Louise knew that she was probably loving all of this.

Louise scoffed. "If she thinks _I_ wronged her, she's got another thing coming."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows as Maudie sat up. "Now, we're getting somewhere." Stephanie winked. "What did you do?"

"Stephanie, _please_." Maudie glared. "Why don't you go do something useful?"

"Don't you dare tell me what to do, Maudie—"

"If you two are going to bicker like an old married couple, I'm just gonna go—"

"You sit right back down," Maudie warned. "I am curious as to why Alexandra Hancock is giving my cousin the cold shoulder."

"I just want to know what's got her corset too tight." Stephanie smirked, making Louise laugh.

Louise rolled her eyes. " _I_ thought it was nothin'." Louise said. "She pulled me aside one day to talk about how the Finch family is a _fine_ family and the way I romp around with the children is disgraceful."

"Did'ya ever hear about their cousin Joshua?" Stephanie winked. Louise smiled and nodded, Jem had told her about how their cousin Joshua went all sorts of crazy and tried to shoot the president of his university. "If Alexandra thinks _that's_ fine, then she's delusional."

"She claims he has a _beautiful soul_." Maudie said, rolling her eyes. "Now you listen here, Louise. You just mind your own when it comes to Alexandra—"

"I do!" Louise exclaimed, sitting up straighter. "Maudie, I've never done one thing to bother her—"

"Yes you did, honey." Stephanie said, shaking her head. "Atticus brought you in here because it's painfully obvious that the children like you more than her—"

"That's not _my_ fault." Louise said, crossing her arms. Maudie and Stephanie both shook their heads.

"You're the closest thing that Jem and Scout have to Jean," Maudie said as Louise tried to interrupt her. In response, Maudie put her hand up. "Just listen for a minute. Yes, they obviously have their father, but _you're_ Jean's sister—heck, the two of you were inseparable your entire lives! You are the closest thing they have to a mother and it makes Alexandra Hancock's skin _crawl_."

"I don't understand why that should be a bother." Louise said as Stephanie cried out.

"Honey!" The other woman exclaimed. "Alexandra was never one to hide how she disliked Jean. Why, everyone in town knew it—I'm quite certain Jean herself knew!"

Louise's face grew hot as she formed her hands into fists. She knew that Stephanie had the tendency to exaggerate certain things so it was hard to tell if she was actually telling the truth. If she was, however, then Jean had never once expressed how Alexandra treated her to Louise, Edie or anyone else. Louise stammered for a few moments before Maudie sighed.

"Alexandra isn't the most…pleasant person to be around," Maudie said, looking at her cousin seriously. "No matter who you are, you always need to mind your p's and q's and behave a certain way. You know Jean better than I did—she was never one to stand for that, and neither are you. I honestly think it's the Buford in you," Maudie took a moment to chuckle to herself. "Alexandra came here with the intentions of forming Jeremy and Jean Louise into little boring things like that grandson of hers, but she never expected you to be here, messin' up her plans."

"They're not even her children to make plans for!" Louise said, nearly shouting and causing Stephanie to jump. "They're Atticus' children, not hers, not mine. She's sickenin' and I'm just goin' to go over there and give her a piece—"

"No." Maudie said firmly. "Honey, I understand how you're feelin', I really do—but can you imagine what you goin' in there and causin' a scene would do to Atticus? He's already got most of the town against him, he doesn't need his sister and his wife's sister makin' his home life a livin' hell, too."

Louise slumped down in her chair, feeling slightly defeated. Maudie was right. She knew that Atticus was the subject of ridicule in the town, and people were not shy to also express their feelings to her, Alexandra and the children. Atticus usually chuckled everything off and attempted to make a joke of it, but Louise knew it took its toll on him. Atticus frequently secluded himself in his office, where he would attempt to read, usually looking defeated.

Louise sighed. "What are we even talkin' about?" She asked, finding herself growing annoyed. Maudie flashed her a sympathetic look.

"Honey," Maudie said. "All I'm tryin' to say is that Alexandra has her own agenda, but don't pay attention to her. Don't go telling her off and act foolish, but don't let her get to you."

"She doesn't get to me." Louise said stubbornly, though she knew that probably wasn't true.

"We all know who the children would rather be with." Maudie reminded her, giving her a little wink.

Louise sighed, standing up. "I'm goin' to see what they're doin'." She said. "Maybe I'll throw 'em in a puddle of mud just to really make Alexandra happy."

"That's the spirit," Maudie said sarcastically.

"Honey, if you ever feel like you wanna kill the woman you can always visit here." Stephanie said as Maudie and Louise exchanged glances. "Maudie and I are nearly on top of each other, but we wouldn't want Atticus to have to defend his sister-in-law for the murder of his sister."

Rolling her eyes, Louise chuckled. "Gee, thanks." She said before she left.

Walking back to the Finch's house, Louise merely decided that she was going to pretend that Alexandra didn't exist. She would only address her when she needed to, and wouldn't go out of her way to talk to the woman. It may be tense, but at least it was better than her confronting the woman. When Louise got back to the house, she was slightly surprised to see that neither of the children were outside. It was nearly evening, Atticus was due to arrive home soon and usually Jem and Scout waited on the porch to meet him. She decided that they were probably trying to get on Alexandra's good side and were sitting in their rooms reading and being as quiet as possible.

First, she went to Jem's room. Usually when Jem and Scout read, they would sprawl themselves out on the floor of Jem's room, but neither of them were in there. For some reason, Louise began to worry. She felt slightly relieved when she went to Scout's room and found her niece sitting on her bed, flipping through a book. "Hey," Louise said, making Scout sit up.

"He-ey, Aunt Lou." She said dully as she stretched her arms.

"Whatcha doin'? I was thinkin' I could take you and Jem for ice cream or somethin'." Louise said with a smile. Scout, who usually jumped at any opportunity to do something with Louise, did not seem too excited. "Honey, is everything alright?"

"Aw yeah, I'm fine." Scout said. "But Jem ain't."

"He's not?" Louise asked, sounding alarmed. "Baby, where is he?"

"He's not hurt or nothin'," Scout said quickly, noticing Louise's concerned look. "He's just sad."

"Why's he sad?"

"I reckon it's 'cause he misses mama." Scout shrugged. "He gets like that sometimes, so I just let him be when it happens."

"Did he tell you he missed mama?" Louise asked, trying not to frown.

"Nome, but he didn't need to. He used'ta get like this all of the time when he was younger, so I just knew it." Scout explained.

Louise sighed to herself and felt bad for Jem. "Do you know where he is?"

"He's in the treehouse." Scout said simply.

"I'm gonna go see him real quick," Louise said. "But when I'm done me and you can walk around town or somethin', and he can come if he's feelin' better."

"I don't know if he'll let you up there," Scout said as she laid back on her stomach. "He never let me up there when he got upset, but I think it's worth a try."

Louise smiled at Scout, who then resumed flipping through her book. She crossed through the living room and was about to go outside when Alexandra cleared her throat. "Where are you going?" She asked. "It'll be time for supper soon."

"Just outside." Louise responded coolly before nearly slamming the door behind her.

She stood by the ladder that led up to the treehouse and examined it for a moment. Trying to disregard her fear of heights, she climbed up a few steps so that her head was visible from the opening. She saw Jem sitting there with a stack of football magazines, though he wasn't looking at any of them. She felt a little pang of anxiety in her stomach; he looked sad, and she wasn't sure if she could help him. "Hey," she said softly, giving him a small smile. Slowly he looked up at her.

"Oh, hey Aunt Lou." He said quietly.

"Whatcha doin' up here?" She asked.

"Just thinkin'."

"Mind if I come up with you?"

Jem paused for a moment, before sayin': "won't you be scared?"

"I won't mind it too much."

"You can come up." Jem said softly. Louise was honestly surprised, she hadn't expected him to allow her up there. It took her longer than it should have to climb up the ladder and slide herself into the treehouse, but she finally steadied herself up there and slid next to her nephew.

"What's wrong?" She asked, feeling out of breath from her struggle.

"Nothin'."

"I don't believe you."

Jem sighed. He opened his mouth as if he were to say something, but closed it and instead looked at the stack of magazines sitting to the side of him. Louise wasn't quite sure what to do. Louise didn't consider herself a naturally maternal person, but this is something that a mother should do (though if Jean were here, this predicament probably wouldn't happen). Louise exhaled slowly and patted Jem's head, but quickly stopped herself, not knowing if Jem liked his head being touched. "Scout tells me you're missing your mama." Louise said softly. Jem, still not looking at her, shrugged. Louise bit at her lower lip—what would Jean do in this circumstance? How did Jean used to comfort Simon and Clara when they were upset when they were children?

"Um," Louise cleared her throat.

"It just seems like Aunt Alexandra pretends mama didn't exist." Jem admitted glumly, nearly breaking Louise's heart. If she wasn't furious with Alexandra before, she definitely was now.

"How's that, baby?" She asked, frowning.

"I don't think she liked her," Jem said softly. "She keeps tellin' me an' Scout about how we need to live up to the fine Fitch name and be little beacons of hope in Atticus' lonely life and she just acts like mama never existed."

Louise felt her heart sink, and then felt even worse when she didn't even know what to do. "Things haven't been goin' too well for your Aunt back at the Landing," was she actually trying to _defend_ Alexandra? "Sometimes when people are stressed they don't act very nicely."

"You don't know her very well," Jem said, finally looking up at her. "That's how she always is."

Louise wanted to say something along the lines of: _well maybe if her corset wasn't tied too tightly she would be able to think rationally_ , but held back. "She is much stricter than your mama." Was all Louise could think of saying.

"She acts like mama wasn't a lady, but I think she was a much better one than Aunty." Jem thought aloud, making Louise smile weakly to herself. "I overheard Aunty telling Atticus that he was raising us to be disgraces, and by having you here it's only makin' it worse."

Now Louise was livid. Feeling her face grow hot, she tried not to look too angry in front of Jem. "Did you hear what he said to her?"

A small smile flickered on Jem's face. "He said somethin along the lines of he was tryin' his best and that you made me an' Scout the happiest he's seen us in years." Louise smiled to herself, thankful that at least Atticus found her useful.

"Well I'm especially happy to be here with you," Louise said, smiling weakly at Jem.

"Do you know what I miss most about mama?" Jem asked seriously.

"I do, baby."

"Her laughin'," he said quickly. "She always woke up in the mornin' laughin', like she already knew that it was going to be a good day before it even started."

Louise smiled. "I miss that, too."

Jem looked away from her and sighed. "I can't remember if she laughed the mornin' she died, but I don't think she did. Maybe she knew somethin' bad was gonna happen."

Louise shrugged. "It might be frustratin', but there's some things we'll never know." She said sadly.

He made a little noise as if he was trying to stifle a laugh. "I don't think Aunty _ever_ laughs."

"She's too _genteelly bred_ for that, darling." Louise said dramatically, making Jem chuckle.

Jem smiled to himself again. "She used'ta make all my food look like happy faces or try to make it look like animals," he told Louise. "She would get a piece of bread and would use blueberries for eyes and a piece of banana for a nose and said it was a bear."

Louise chuckled. "Did it look like a bear?"

"Nome, but I never told her." Jem said. "I liked it anyway."

"I bet that made her real happy." Louise smiled.

"I think so," Jem said seriously. "She would do it every morning, and the entire time she'd be laughin'."

"You were very special to her," Louise said seriously. Jem smiled, and she paused for a moment. "Sweet, did anyone ever tell you about your cousin Simon?"

"Simon Finch? Well Aunty—"

"No, not him." Louise said gently. "Your Aunt Charlotte's son, I mean." Jem looked confused as he furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

"I remember his name from somewhere," he said slowly. "But I don't think that anyone's ever talked 'bout him."

"You probably saw his grave, he's buried next to his mama." Louise explained. "Your mama's buried near them, on our family's plot."

Jem's eyes widened a little bit. "I think that must've been where I've seen it. Why?"

"When your mama was twenty, she was watchin' over him and Clara and Libby—Libby was not even a year old yet. But anyways, Simon was tryin' to be a daredevil and was tryin' to jump off of a branch into a little pool that your mama made for the kids to swim in," It wasn't until she began telling the story that she realized how long it had been since she had talked about Simon. "Well, your mama told him to stop doin' that and went inside real quick to put the baby in her crib and while she was gone he didn't listen to her and he jumped and snapped his neck."

Jem's mouth hung open a little as she told him, and he sat himself up straighter. "That's awful."

"It was," Louise said, chuckling awkwardly. "Your mama had been a right old mess after and blamed herself for it. She swore on her life that she couldn't ever let herself have children because she couldn't bear to lose 'em." Jem looked perplexed, but before he could say anything Louise continued, smiling slightly. "And then she met your daddy and he helped her not feel so guilty and obviously she changed her mind about having children. She thought she jinxed herself or somethin', though, because at first she thought she couldn't have a baby."

Jem was nearly twelve, but Louise couldn't help but to wonder if this was something appropriate to talk to him about, but she figured this was something he needed to know. He was still smiling, so she took that as a sign that he was alright. "Really?" He asked softly after a few moments.

"Really," she affirmed, clapping her hand on his knee. "And then two years after your mama and daddy got married, _you_ came. I've been through nearly _everything_ with your mama and I still swear to this day that she was at her happiest when you were born. She called you her miracle baby and would never let you out of her sight. You and your sister were the best things that ever happened to your mother."

Jem leaned his back against the wall of the treehouse, still smiling. Louise remembered Jem as the six-year-old boy, nearly traumatized by the fact that his mama wouldn't be coming home. Jean would be proud, Louise thought to herself, Jean would be so incredibly proud of the gentleman her son was becoming. "I bet anything," Louise said slowly. "That your mama is watchin' down on you from somewhere and is so delighted about what a good person you are. I know _I_ am."

"I hope so," Jem said.

Louise smiled at him and gave him a side hug. "I'll leave you alone now," she said as she inched herself towards the entrance of the treehouse. "I figure you don't want your old Aunty spendin' the _entire_ evenin' with you."

As she cautiously made her way towards the ladder, Jem cleared his throat. "Aunt Lou?" He asked, making her stop in her tracks. Making sure her feet were steady on the ladder, she looked up at him.

"Yes, sweet?"

"Thank you."

She smiled at him. "Any time, baby." She said, before slowly making her way onto steady ground.

Once she entered the house and got a glimpse of Alexandra sitting in Atticus' chair sewing a stupid rug, Louise was suddenly filled with anger. It was at that moment she decided that she detested the woman. Ultimately, Louise blamed her for Jem feeling so upset that afternoon. She also feared that this dastardly woman would give Scout the wrong impression about her mother since Jean was no longer here to defend herself.

Well, Louise was here to defend her.

"Atticus is taking his supper in his study," Alexandra said dully, not looking at Louise. "So you may eat whenever you want."

 _Don't tell me what to do_ , Louise thought to herself. "Alright." She replied tensely, beginning to make her way back to Scout.

"What is the matter with you?" Alexandra asked, making Louise stop dead in her tracks. Slowly, she made her way back to the living room.

A thousand possible responses flooded her mind, but clenching her hands in her fists she told herself not to make a scene for the sake of Atticus. "I don't know what you mean." She replied, her voice a higher pitch than usual.

Alexandra still refused to look at Louise, which made Louise angrier. _If you're going to blame_ me _for you being a stupid old hag, at least look at me_ , Louise thought to herself. "You seem especially…agitated lately." Alexandra said coolly.

"I guess I'm just tired," Louise lied.

"I told you that you shouldn't sleep on that flimsy cot," Alexandra said. "It's your stubbornness that is the root of your problem, dear."

Louise snapped. "Maybe my problem is _you_." She said, nearly whispering, her hands shaking at her side. Finally, Alexandra looked up at her, her eyes wide.

"Excuse me?"

"I as well as everyone in this damn town know you didn't like Jean, and that's just fine you can feel however the hell you want," Louise said coolly. "But Jem is up in that treehouse absolutely distraught at the fact that you are trying to negate his mother's existence!"

Alexandra nearly threw her rug on the ground. "I don't know who filled your mind with such ideas but I will assure you that you are being absolutely ridiculous right now."

"Am I really?" She asked bitterly as she threw her arms in the air. "Because both Jem and Scout are well under the impression that you did not like Jean. And frankly, they're afraid of you!"

Alexandra's mouth hung open for a few moments before she quickly shut it. Louise took that as an opportunity to continue talking. "You basically tell them that they're failures because they're not these perfect little rays of sunshine for Atticus, but you're the only one who sees it like that! Can't you accept that they are perfectly _happy_ with the way they're livin' even if it doesn't amount to your standards?"

Alexandra sat up stiffly and was nearly glaring at Louise. "I am simply trying to assist them in becoming the lady and gentleman that society will expect them to be—"

"They're fine the way they are." Louise said, crossing her arms.

"This isn't something you would know much about." Alexandra snapped back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't know how to raise children," Alexandra said seriously, crossing her arms. "It's all good and fun for you to be the aunt to come here and play around with them, but it's seriously going to detriment their development. You're making them think it's acceptable to be wild."

Louise stammered for a moment, feeling stung. "For your information, there are people wilder than me."

"I'm not talking about _those people_ , I'm talking about _you_." Alexandra said.

"Well, have fun tryin' to change me," Louise said bitterly, preparing to leave the room. "Because I don't give a dam what you think."

Before Alexandra could even say anything in response to that, Louise nearly ran down the hallway. Without knocking, she opened the door to Scout's room and quickly shut it behind her. Scout, who was still situated in her bed, jumped up from being startled. Sighing, Louise muttered an apology and sat down on the cot that had been placed next to Scout's bed.

"You alright, Aunty?" Scout asked, looking confused.

"Just fine, sweet." Louise said quickly, though her hands were still shaking.

"Is Jem alright?"

"He is, baby."

"Atticus was tired today," Scout said, laying herself down today. "He didn't even want to eat supper."

"He probably had a lot of work today," Louise explained.

"Were you talkin' to Aunt Alexandra?" Scout asked, making Louise flush. She was thankful that Atticus was nearly deaf in his left ear—maybe he hadn't of heard her from his office (though she could've sworn she hadn't been loud).

"Mm hmm," Louise nodded.

"Are you mad at her?"

"I'm just a little agitated, sweet."

"Did you ever get agitated at mama?"

"Just once, sweet." Louise replied honestly, thinking back to her own wedding. It was as if Jean knew her sister was going to end up being unhappy in her marriage, and had tried to stop it. That was the first and only time she and Jean had a serious argument. And, of course, Jean had been right.

"Did mama ever get agitated at you?"

"Probably many times," Louise chuckled as she looked at her niece. "I reckon I was a pesky little sister."

"I bet mama liked it," Scout assured her.

"You're a sweet kid."

"Aunty?"

"Yes, sweet?"

"You can sleep in my bed if you want, if it'll make you feel better." She said, smiling. "I wouldn't mind if we shared."

"That's awfully nice, I think I may just take your offer." Louise said, making Scout's smile grow wider.

-o-o-o-

That evening had progressed as usual. Eventually Jem had climbed down from the treehouse and ate supper with Louise and Scout. After her argument with Alexandra, Louise had found that the woman had retreated into her room and wasn't going to come out for the rest of the evening. With the absence of both Atticus and Alexandra, Jem had decided to sleep on the cot in Scout's room and the three of them were going to stay up late making up ghost stories. It made Louise genuinely happy that Jem still enjoyed spending time with his kid sister. After they had quickly eaten their supper, Louise told them to go off and get ready for bed while she cleaned the dishes.

Instead of going straight to Scout's room after she had finished cleaning up, Louise found herself knocking on Alexandra's door. "Come in," Alexandra responded in a muffled tone. Almost nervously, Louise opened the door. Alexandra was in her nightgown and situated under her duvet, a book laying open next to her. When she saw it was Louise that knocked, it was almost as if her expression had hardened. "Yes?" She asked coolly.

Louise sighed, looking down at the ground. "I-I just wanted to apologize," Louise said softly. Apologizing had never been an easy thing for Louise. "Um, I was out of line earlier—"

"It's fine." Alexandra responded shortly.

"I mean it," Louise said, finally looking up at the woman. "I don't want there being any—"

"It's fine, Louise." She said again, though Louise didn't believe her. "Is that all?"

Louise felt stung, and found herself standing up straighter. "I suppose it is." She said.

"Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight, Alexandra." Louise said as she turned to leave.

"Louise?" Alexandra asked as Louise was about to close the door. Peeking her head in the room again, Alexandra said: "we can look into buying you a proper bed this week."

"I wouldn't worry about it, I'll probably go back to Montgomery soon." She said quickly. She closed the door before she could observe Alexandra's reaction.


	10. Chapter 10

Louise had returned to Montgomery just before school started. She felt guiltier this time, especially as Jem and Scout would beg for her to stay at any chance they could. Two days after her argument with Alexandra, when she had announced she was going back home, the woman seemed to actually _relax_. Louise thought that maybe she should be offended, but she was personally overjoyed at the fact that she wouldn't have to spend every day with the woman anymore.

If Atticus had known what Louise had said to his sister, he didn't mention it. He was polite as ever to Louise, which made her feel relieved. She had grown to have a tremendous amount of respect for her brother-in-law and thought that she would be devastated if he thought lowly of her. When she had told him she was leaving he had smiled at her, told her she would be missed and expressed his hope that she'd come again soon. She had promised both him and herself that she would be back next summer, before his trial.

The days leading up to her return to Montgomery seemed to have flown by. It seemed as though she had closed her eyes for a second and it was nearly September and time for her to leave. As she kissed Jem and Scout goodbye, she noticed the solemn looks on their faces. "What's the matter?" She asked, trying to sound playful. "Why, time's gonna go by so fast it'll be Christmas before you know it."

"You'll come back, right?" Jem asked softly.

"We don't want Aunty to scare you away." Scout added meekly.

Louise sighed. "Guys, I'll be back livin' with you next summer." She assured them, though they didn't look relieved when she told them.

"We just don't want to be left alone with her," Scout whispered.

"Honey, you two just mind your Aunty, okay? If ya'll work together, it won't be so bad." Louise said, kissing them both again.

The entire train ride Louise was wracked with guilt. She wondered if she should have just swallowed her pride and stay in Maycomb, but then she thought that maybe the children would get along better with Alexandra if she wasn't there. Maybe by the time Louise came next summer, Jem and Scout's relations with their other aunt would have improved. Louise couldn't help but to doubt that.

When Louise slouched herself on the sofa in her mother's living room and helped herself to a cigarette, it was almost as if Edie knew her daughter was fretting about something.

"What's the matter?" Edie asked, staring at her daughter over the rims of her reading glasses. To Louise, those glasses were the only sign that her mother was getting older. At least it was better than her squinting at everything.

"Nothin'." Louise replied shortly, exhaling smoke into the air.

"You almost look as poorly as you did when Jean told you not to marry Phil." Edie said casually, making Louise want to cringe. "Now I know you're a generally agitated person, but not _this_ agitated."

Louise shot her mother a quick glare. "I guess I'm just feelin' guilty about leavin' Maycomb, the children looked mighty upset when I left."

"Soon they're going to be so old that we won't be able to refer to them as the children anymore." Edie thought aloud. "Don't they get upset every time you leave?"

"Yes, but this time Alexandra's there."

"Well, I've always thought she was a nice lady."

"I might've gotten into a quarrel with her." Louise informed her mother, who sat up straighter.

"About what?"

"About how she treats the children."

"What does she do to my grandbabies?" Edie asked, her tone becoming harsher. Lighting a second cigarette, Louise sighed.

"Listen, Edie, she goes around tellin' the children these stories about their Finch ancestors and how they're such fine people and that Jem and Scout are ruinin' the Finch name by misbehavin'—"

"Who is she observing because _my_ grandchildren are quite fine—"

"Exactly! And she goes round tellin' them that they need to be these perfect little beams of light for their daddy's lonely life—"

"He's not lonely, he's got them! It's _his_ _choice_ not to remarry—"

"And she treated me like I was a feral child or somethin' and spoke down to me all the time," Louise continued, crossing her arms. "One day Jem was so upset because havin' Alexandra there made him miss Jean more because Alexandra completely disregards that Jean even existed and he, as well as the entire town, believes that Alexandra didn't even like Jean."

By now, Edie looked furious. "My Eugenia did nothing to that woman," she said as she pursed her lips. "My poor grandchildren." She muttered, shaking her head.

Louise sighed impatiently and sunk deeper into the couch, focusing her attention on squashing her cigarette in the ashtray. "Eug…Louise, if you let that woman dominate how you live in Maycomb, you might as well throw yourself in front of Atticus' front door and be used as a doormat." Edie said, crossing her arms. "I never thought you were one to do that."

Louise sat up. "I am _not_ Alexandra Hancock's doormat." She said stubbornly.

"You let her chase you outta there," Edie replied, looking cross. "Jem and Scout are just as much your family as they are hers."

"I _always_ come home." Louise pointed out.

"You come home on _your_ terms, you never look depressed when you return." Edie pointed out. "Why, I didn't think _you_ were the type to let someone control you."

"Edie, your stark mad." Louise said, lighting another cigarette out of habit.

"Honey, I'm just tellin' you what you're too afraid to admit yourself." Edie retorted. "You sure as well know that you would be fine there if you minded your own biscuits and Alexandra minded hers—"

"You're really prophetic, mother."

"I'm sayin' the truth! It's about time you listen to me."

"When you start making allusions to food, you can't help but to lose me."

"You're stubborn, that's what you are."

"I wonder who I get it from." Louise smirked, blowing another puff of smoke into the air.

"You need to stop smokin' those things." Edie said as she picked up the book that was sitting next to her and looked away from her daughter.

"I will when you do, Edie." Louise said, still smirking. Edie, still not looking at Louise, simply shook her head.

-o-o-o-

Months passed, and Louise remained in Montgomery. Once a week she would call Maycomb to talk to Jem and Scout, and consistently promised that she would definitely arrive again at the beginning of the summer. She needed time away from Alexandra, and she decided that this time she needed time to figure her life out. It was a little over three years since she had returned home from Europe, so Louise decided that she needed to make something of herself. Since she came back to Alabama, it had seemed as though she was almost living her life in limbo—shuttling herself back and forth from Montgomery to Maycomb, but not actually doing anything.

Instead of spending her time with the stay-at-home wives she had once known during her youth, Louise would go to the city during the day in an attempt to find something to do with herself. After a couple of weeks of unsuccessful attempts, Harriet allowed her older sister to come to work with her to assist with some of the duties at her husband's office. Louise had been quite grateful that she had learned how to use a typewriter when she was younger, because it made her quite successful at the tasks assigned to her in her new setting.

Since she was accepted into the office out of pity (though Louise refused to acknowledge that) rather than necessity, she didn't work every day. Though Louise would have preferred something more consistent, she was grateful to have something to do besides follow Edie around on the various errands she did each day. When she didn't work, she spent her time in the city, reading or finding something else to occupy the copious amounts of free time she had. It was when she was stuck doing nothing that she thought that perhaps she should've stayed in Maycomb—at least then she'd have the children to make her feel more useful and not like a burden.

But at the same time, Louise was almost certain that she wasn't quite ready to return to Maycomb just yet. Being there with the children and Atticus was _almost_ like being with Jean again, but being there was also a surreal experience for her. For the past three years she had perpetually been a guest, with nothing expected of her (except if one took Alexandra's standards into consideration) and no real responsibilities. She enjoyed the freedom granted to her to be able to do what she pleased with Jem and Scout, but at the same time she felt as though she were a child again. Despite the fact that her days in Montgomery had quickly become predictable, at least she was treated as an adult. She steadily decided that she would return to Maycomb in the summer, where she would arrive feeling productive and like the adult she was.

Summer progressed into fall (though the weather had not changed much since when Louise first arrived home), and Louise thought that finally, after years of feeling restless, that maybe she was finally settling herself down in her own unique way. One unusually crisp November morning, Louise sat on a bench in the park that she used to play in as a child (the fact that it had hardly changed made her anxious and feel as though she had gone back in time), reading a book she had taken out at the library. When somebody sat next to her, she didn't think much of it and didn't look at the person. She spent many a day there, and found that mother's frequently took their toddlers out to play to prevent them from being restless at home.

"Louise?" An unfamiliar voice asked, prompting her to close her book. "Louise Graham?"

Quickly, she turned her head. Though he had gained some weight and looked older, she could recognize Emmett anywhere. Awkwardly, she smiled at him. "Hey, Emmett." She replied, setting the book in between them.

"You hardly look different."

"Neither do you."

"I wasn't aware you were still livin' in Montgomery."

"I've been goin' back and forth from Maycomb to here." She replied dully.

"What's Maycomb?" He asked, almost making her laugh. However, she quickly came to realize that if you weren't from the county, you wouldn't really know about its existence.

"It's where Jean moved," Louise informed him. "I go there in the summers to see her children."

He was silent for a moment, and made her feel incredibly awkward as he sat there smiling at her. The Emmett she remembered from her youth hardly ever smiled (he was too above that or something stupid), and the fact that they were sitting here at the park that they all used to play in as children simply made her feel weird. "Those are my two," he said, nodding his head towards the little boys playing by the slide. Louise thought they must've been no older than three years old. "I've got three more, but they're all in school." He informed her.

"They're cute," she replied, though she wasn't entirely sure she meant it. Unless it was members of her own family, Louise wasn't entirely interested in children.

"You got kids?"

"Nope."

"You married?"

"I was."

He smirked and nudged her with his elbow. "Let me guess, you realized marriage wasn't your cup of tea and divorced the poor sucker." He assumed. She immediately tried to hide her scowl.

"Actually," she said sharply. "He shot himself in our bedroom."

The smile that had once been on his face immediately fell. "Damn, Louise." He said, rubbing at his shoulder as though she had punched him. "I'm real sorry."

"It's fine," she said honestly. "It was years ago."

"Was it before or after—"

"It was after Jean died."

"Damn," he said again, looking sad. "You didn't even have her to talk to."

"She wouldn't have brought him back." She said, feeling increasingly bitter.

"I can't believe she's dead," Emmet said, shaking his head. "I had moved to Georgia for work for a while, but once my mama got sick I came back here. When Harriet told me she had died, I just about died of shock."

"It was a surprise to us all," Louise assured him, wondering when he would leave her alone.

"I swore I was goin' to marry her," He said, shaking his head. "It's funny how things change. I heard she married some old man."

"He's not _that_ old," Louise found herself saying. "And honestly, even if she hadn't met Atticus she wouldn't have married you."

"Why's that?"

"She never loved you." Louise said coolly, leaving Emmett looking shocked. "You just occupied her time."

"You're still as harsh as ever." Emmett said, trying to smile at her.

"I'm not harsh," she said coolly. "I'm just truthful."

"Was she happy?" He asked after a few minutes, his expression serious.

"Very," Louise replied dryly.

"I feel bad for those children of hers," Emmett sighed. "For losin' their mama so soon."

"We all do, honey."

-o-o-o-

When she first returned to Montgomery, she had the plan of immersing herself in different things in order to make miss Maycomb, to make her want to come back despite the fact that she would still be required to cohabitate with Alexandra. Thankfully, by the time June had come around, Louise had found her plan had worked. When the office she volunteered at no longer needed her services and she had grown tired of sitting at the park reading, Louise was more than ready to take the train back to Maycomb.

As she watched the landscape quickly pass by her during her train ride, she wondered how long she would be doing this, and wondered if she would spend the rest of her life traveling back and forth from Montgomery to Maycomb. Maybe, after a while, she'd go back to France and spend the rest of her life there, virtually a stranger to everyone she crossed. Maybe she'd pack up her stuff, move to Paris and become a writer. Hell, anyone could do it. Maybe she'd write satirical pieces about the people she met while she made a life of traveling. It might be nice, she thought to herself. She could make a life of doing whatever she wanted.

But for now, she had to focus on what was immediately in front of her: Jem and Scout. They still needed her. Especially now, with their father's trial coming so soon and with Alexandra and her expectations looming over them day after day. Despite those heavy factors, Louise was determined to be the same optimistic presence for the children, as she had been for the past three years.

Unsurprisingly, Jem and Scout were absolutely delighted by the fact that their aunt had returned to them. As it turned out, Dill would be spending another summer away from Maycomb and with his family. Because of the previous summer, Jem and Scout had grown accustomed to his absence and found a way to manager through their summer without him. Fittingly, Louise took his place in all of Jem and Scout's usual games. She could sense that Alexandra did not approve, but the woman never said anything. While relations were cordial between Louise and Alexandra, there was still a tense air whenever the pair was in a room together.

"Do you and Aunty hate each other?" Scout asked one day as the three of them walked to the Barker's Eddy.

"Of course not," Louise said briskly.

"It seems like you do," Scout pointed out, making Louise furrow her eyebrows. Had it been _that_ obvious?

"No," Louise rejected, shaking her head. "Your Aunty and I are just fine."

"It don't seem that way."

"Y'all are just too young." Louise replied.

"Heck, I'll be thirteen in November!" Jem pointed out animatedly, making Louise feel old.

"It don't make a difference." Louise told him. "Ladies are a completely different cup of tea."

"Ladies make everything a mess," Jem said, scowling. Louise couldn't help but to laugh at him.

"Unfortunately, that is the truth, honey." Louise smirked.

"Well good thing _I_ ain't a lady," Scout said, crossing her arms.

"You'll still manage to make a mess of things." Jem teased.

"He-ey." Scout chimed, scowling at her brother. "Did mama ever make a mess of things?"

Louise thought for a moment, and then smiled at her niece. "Now, she wasn't a Stephanie Crawford," Louise began. "But she did have a rivalry with one of the girls in our neighborhood."

Jem and Scout both laughed. "Whaddya mean?" Scout asked, still giggling to herself. By now, the three of them had arrived to the Eddy and were in the process of setting towels down on the ground. Due to the heat, the water bank was a little busy, so the three of them decided to sit for a while.

"Well, there was this girl named Alice who lived in our neighborhood who was the same exact age as your mama," Louise informed Jem and Scout, who were watching her eagerly. "And the two of them were always being compared to one another by the older ladies in town so it was like they were always in a competition with one another. One time your mama snuck some liquid soap into her punch bowl when Alice had all of the ladies in our neighborhood over for brunch, and when they were kids Alice _accidentally_ cut your mama's hair one summer."

Jem and Scout laughed again. "Mama really put soap in her punch?" Jem asked, sounding surprised.

"Honey, she might've seemed like it, but your mama was no saint." Louise grinned. "The ladies in our neighborhood spent a week talkin' about how your mama's punch was better, so she was mighty proud of herself." As she said this, she thought of Alice, who still lived in the same neighborhood after all of these years. Louise had seen her once or twice in the past couple of years, and each time she saw the woman, Alice would always shake her head and say what a shame it was that Jean was gone.

"She seemed like a real trickster," Scout said proudly as she spread herself out on the towel. Louise smiled to herself—at least Scout would know her mother through the stories she shared.

-o-o-o-

Evidentially, Dill was not having as good of a summer as he had lead the Finch's to believe. Somehow the boy had managed to travel from Mississippi to Maycomb all on his own, and hid under Scout's bed until he was discovered by both of the children. Despite the fact that this probably wasn't behavior that should be applauded, Louise couldn't help but to be impressed by the boy's determination. Though she only spent a short amount of time with him, she couldn't help but to be fond of Dill. He was a sharp young thing who seemed more like a forty year old stuck in a child's body. Louise couldn't help but to appreciate that.

Shortly after Dill's arrival, it was discovered that Tom Robinson was going to be moved to the county jail. While Louise didn't know the man personally, she felt like she had from all of the information Atticus shared about him. When Atticus had learned that Tom may face some danger from mob activity, he decided that he was going to spend the night watching over him. Louise had offered to keep him company since it would be an all-night job (and she didn't admit to him that she was in fact worried for his safety), but he adamantly declined. This was _his_ responsibility, he explained to her. Also, as if he was reading her mind, he informed her that she didn't need to worry one bit about him, he knew what he was doing. Regardless, Louise worried anyway. She couldn't help but to figure that if Jean were alive, she'd be worried sick about her husband, and since Jean wasn't there to do the worrying, it was the least Louise could do.

While Louise still considered Jem and Scout were still children, they were getting older. They couldn't really be regarded as the babies that Louise had implanted in her memory. They were older now, and smart as hell. Despite the fact that Louise, and all of the other adults in their lives, tried to shield them from what was happening as the trial came closer. One day, as Louise was attempting to act as though everything was still normal, she realized that Jean would have probably been upfront with her children rather than trying to sugarcoat the truth. With the trial less than a week away, Louise decided that she wasn't going to pretend any longer.

"Listen here," Louise said in a hushed tone as she lazily swung herself and Scout on the tire swing. Jem and Dill were sitting in the treehouse, a pile of magazines sitting between them.

"What, Aunt Lou?" Jem asked, almost sounding concerned.

"In the next comin' days you're going to see some ugly things." Louise said simply as she ran her fingers through Scout's growing hair.

"Do you mean the trial?" Jem asked. "'Cause that's been ugly for a while."

"It's hard to believe, but it'll get worse, sweet." Louise said, sighing.

"How?" Scout asked, and at this point all three children were looking at her with perplexed expressions.

"It's hard to explain, especially since your daddy is the way he is—"

"Is that a bad thing?" Scout asked.

"No," Louise said firmly. "Not in the slightest, but other people don't see it that way. They're gonna throw a lot of nastiness towards y'all and especially Atticus."

"Well, what should we do?" Jem asked, furrowing his brow.

Louise sighed, and thought how Edie would give her a sick look of satisfaction if she heard what Louise was going to say. "You just need to keep your chins up and mind your own biscuits." Jem, Dill and Scout all looked at her as if she was a crazy old lady. "It'll show that y'all are the bigger person, even when everyone else is being petty."

"I don't think Atticus will have a problem." Jem said, shrugging. "He usually wins most of his cases."

Louise frowned. At that moment it dawned on her that Atticus had raised his children to be ahead of their time. When other people focused on race and discrimination, Jem and Scout were color-blind. Despite their intellect, they didn't fully understand the names Atticus was being called and the entire circumstances of the case. She felt guilty for not knowing how to prepare the children for the worst—that Atticus may not win, and would probably get a lot of backlash even when he lost. Sadly, Louise smiled up at her nephew. "We just need to hope for the best, honey."

The best didn't happen. While Alexandra had opted to stay home on the day of the trial, Louise put on one of her best dresses and went to town as early as possible to get a good seat. She usually wasn't one to feed into such fanatics that were being displayed, but she thought that maybe it would be nice for her to silently support Atticus while he attempted to defend this man. She found herself wondering if Jean would've sat strongly behind her husband while he faced probably one of the toughest trials of his life. Louise liked to think that she would have.

The trial was long and awful. She wanted to cringe when both Bob and Mayella Ewell were called upon to testify. Louise wasn't usually one to look down on people, but there just was something that wasn't right with that family. What made matters worse was that she was quite certain that nobody else saw this, and that the whole town was probably convinced that this family was telling the truth. Even before the trial began, Louise knew that Atticus was going to lose this case—she didn't expect it to be so excruciating, though. By the time Tom Robinson was called upon the stand, Louise had almost completely resigned herself, there was no point in getting any of her hopes up.

She hadn't realized the children had snuck in until Cal came looking for them. When Atticus told them they could return to hear the verdict, Louise felt a strange flood of emotions. Part of her was glad they'd be able to see it first-hand, to get a taste of the circumstances themselves. But the other part of her thought they were too young for this, most certainly this could break their hearts. But Atticus was their father, and it was obvious that he had a plan when it came to allowing his children to watch the verdict being announced.

But that didn't stop it from breaking Louise's heart.

Louise _knew_ he was going to lose, and had been able to prepare herself and anticipate it. What she hadn't been able to prepare herself for was Jem's reaction. Louise figured Scout was still just a tad too young to understand the implications of that trial, but Jem wasn't. As Louise looked up at the colored balcony at her niece and nephew, she saw Jem crying. She knew at that moment Jem had probably aged ten years, but her heart still broke because to her he was still that little baby she would bounce on her knee or toss in the air (to the displeasure of Jean). Now, he was forced to face some of life's most unpleasant moments.

She followed behind Atticus as he left the courthouse, and together they waited for the children.

"Atticus," she said, clearing her throat.

"You don't need to say anything." He told her with a small smile on his face.

"You did an awfully good job in there, I was quite impressed." She said, trying to force a smile.

"I appreciate it, Lou."

"Jean would be proud, too." She said. She felt her cheeks flush when he looked away, a somber expression on his face.

Before either of them could say anything else, the children had caught up to them. All of them looked subdued, but it was obvious that Jem was the most affected by this. "It ain't right," Louise heard him mumble, and her heart broke even more.

She had followed Jem inside, but didn't go to his room with him. Alexandra was diligently sitting in the living room, working on another rug. She was still dressed as though it was daylight, and actually looked worried. "I heard of the verdict," she said quietly as Louise looked around the living room.

"It was a right old shame." Louise said.

"Is Jem alright?" Alexandra asked, and for some reason Louise was surprised by the fact that Alexandra actually seemed to care.

"He's learned a rough lesson," she explained. "But one that needed to be learned."

Scout was the next to come in. Tiredly, she rubbed at her eyes and bid both of her aunt's goodnight. "Goodnight, sweet." Alexandra said in response as Atticus entered the room.

"I'm going to sleep," he announced as he started to walk down the hallway. "If I'm not up tomorrow, don't call for me." He added quickly, making Alexandra inhale sharply.

As Louise followed Scout into her room, she swore she could've heard Alexandra say: "my poor brother" in a sad tone.

Scout sprawled out on her bed, looking at a magazine Dill had left the day before. "Aunt Lou?" She asked, not looking up at Louise.

"Yes, dear?"

"Why was Jem cryin'?"

Jean sat on the foot of the bed and rested her hand on Scout's head. She wondered when Scout would stop liking when Louise did that. "Honey, what happened today was awful." Louise said seriously.

"Why?"

"Because that man was innocent, sweet."

"Then why did they say he was guilty?"

"Because people," she paused, inhaled slowly and wished she had a cigarette. "Because people aren't too kind to those who aren't like them."

"I don't understand," Scout said, scowling. "Atticus an' Jem say there's only one type of people, and that's people, so why doesn't everyone else understand that?"

"Because people aren't colorblind like you are, sweet." She said grimly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You'll understand one day." Louise sighed.

"Was mama colorblind like me?" Scout said, tossing the magazine to the ground.

"Your mama tried her best to love everyone, just like your daddy does." Louise told her.

"Well, I think that's awful nice."

"I'm glad someone does." Louise smiled.

"Do you think mama would've cried like Jem did?"

"Not in front of your daddy, she wouldn't let him see that."

"Was she shy?"

"She would want to be a pillar for him." Louise explained.

"A pillar of what?"

"Baby, your daddy is very tired by this. Your mama would've wanted to be a pillar of strength for him so it wouldn't be so hard on him." Louise told her, and Scout began to look sad. "Sweet, what's wrong?"

"Well, with mama not here, Atticus doesn't have a pillar."

"You're wrong, sweet. He's got two strong pillars standing on either side of him." Louise said, a smile growing on her face.

"Who's that?"

"Why, you and your brother of course." Louise said as a smile grew on Scout's face.

-o-o-o-

Even after the trial, things were still hard on Atticus. At first, he thought that he had the possibility of getting an appeal, that maybe Tom would have a second chance to prove himself innocent. Unfortunately for Tom, he had given up. He tried to escape the jail, and met his fate. There would be no appeal, and Tom would forever be seen as guilty. It was surprising how Louise and Alexandra had been able to forget their tension over their mutual sense of anxiety over Atticus. While the ladies weren't the best of friends, they put aside their differences to discuss the death threats that Atticus had received from Bob Ewell. Just because Atticus didn't take them seriously didn't mean that Alexandra and Louise could take it lightly. Despite the fact that they had his best interests in heart, Louise could sense that their anxiety was making him frustrated. After all, he hated it when the women in his life were constantly fretting—and having two of them under his roof probably didn't make him feel any better.

Despite the fact that Atticus always enjoyed Louise's presence, she couldn't help but to think that maybe he was slightly relieved when she was prompted to leave in September. She had planned on staying a little bit longer, just until she was certain that Atticus was safe, but when Edie called to say that Hattie was in the hospital with chest pains, Louise thought she should go home. Louise wasn't able to get a train to Montgomery until the next afternoon, but she thought that she still needed to be home just in case the worse happened. Luckily, Edie called the morning before Louise left, explaining that Hattie simply had too much caffeine, but Louise still decided to return to Montgomery.

Atticus had driven her to the train station. She had explained the situation to both him and Alexandra, and the three of them all decided that it was best not to tell the children about Hattie's scare. Since she was fine, there was no use worrying the children—especially since heart disease was obviously so rampant in the Graham family.

Overall, the ride to the train station had been a quiet one. Louise and Atticus made small talk, but usually ran out of things to talk about for a short while. However, just before they reached the station, Atticus sighed and briefly looked at his sister-in-law. "Have you gotten your heart checked?" While she was used to others asking her this question, she was actually kind of shocked when Atticus brought it up.

"No," she replied, still looking out of the window.

"Are you going to?"

"No." She said again.

"May I ask why?"

"Don't see any need," she said simply. "What will happen will happen, I don't care."

He smiled gingerly at her, and looked as if he was going to say something. As he stopped his car by the station, he slowly let himself out of the car to help her with her bags. Carefully, he hugged her. "You be careful," he told her, and she wondered if Hattie's scare had reminded him of Jean. "Take care of yourself, please."

"You don't need to worry about me." She smiled as she took the bag from his hand. For some reason, she felt a strange sense of sadness as she walked away from him.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: This was originally going to be the last chapter, but I ultimately decided to do an epilogue to wrap some things up. While I would love to have made this longer and explore more things, I decided to end it here. Today is officially my last day of summer (I never count the weekends haha), and this past week I found out that I was selected for the job of my dreams (!), so if I had let this story go on it probably would've ended up abandoned. Like I did with The Light at the End, I tried to leave this story in a spot where I could explore different plotlines further. I have more ideas for multi-chaptered fics in my head, but the only thing working against me is time, so it will most likely be a while until I post something again. Since next week will be pretty light in terms of my school load, I'll definitely try to have the epilogue up soon! Also, this chapter was intended to be a shock (I know some of you have had ideas on how this would end, so I'm curious to see if this was expected!).

-o-o-o-

On Halloween of 1936, Libby had begged for permission to go to a party that her friends were hosting in the next neighborhood. Louise was honestly surprised that her usually timid niece actually wanted to go to a social event, and secretly hoped her mother would give in. Edith, at first, was completely against the idea but when Louise rolled her eyes and said: "really, Edie, what would it hurt?" Edith reluctantly gave in. Joyfully, Libby rushed through supper and spent most of the evening getting ready. Once she nearly flew out the door (quickly kissing both Edie and Louise on the cheek before she departed), Edie sighed, complained of a headache and went to her room.

Louise spent the rest of the night in the parlor, flipping through one of the paperback novels Edie had left on the coffee table. Once that no longer interested her, she looked around for other reading materials to occupy her time with. She had decided that she wasn't going to retire to her room until Libby got home and she knew her niece was safe. As it approached nearly eleven o'clock, Louise found herself worrying. She paced back and forth in the parlor and was nearly scared to death when her niece entered the house at nearly quarter past eleven. "I'm sorry," Libby said, sounding tired. Besides that, she looked completely fine.

"It's alright," Louise said, forcing a smile. "Did you have fun?"

"I did," Libby responded, smiling. "Is nanny asleep?"

"She went up a while ago, and I haven't heard a peep from her since."

"Are you goin' to bed?"

"In a few minutes." Louise responded as Libby kissed her cheek and descended up the stairs. She looked around the empty parlor for a moment and sunk back into the sofa. A few moments had passed when the phone began to ring. Confused, Louise picked up the receiver.

"Incoming call from Maycomb." The operator said before switching over the line.

"Atticus?" Louise asked.

"I just realized how late it was." He said tiredly.

"Is everything alright?" She felt herself beginning to worry again.

"Everything is fine now." Atticus said, sighing. "But the children were attacked earlier this evening."

Her stomach dropped as she inhaled sharply. "Attacked?" She said, nearly stuttering. "Who would, who would do that?"

"Bob Ewell." He said grimly making Louise scowl.

"What happened?" She asked softly, covering her mouth with her hand.

"He told me he would get me if it was the last thing he did and I underestimated him." Atticus said grimly. "Scout had her Halloween pageant tonight Jem went with her. While they were walkin' home Bob Ewell was waitin' for them with a knife."

"Dear God."

"Scout had forgotten her clothes and was walking home in this large ham costume, so when he tried to get at her, the costume helped stop him. I think Jem was tryin' to fend Bob off of Scout and he's got a swollen eye and a broken arm. He was knocked unconscious, but Dr. Reynolds reckons he'll be alright. I'm going to sit with him for the rest of the night to make sure."

"How'd you find them?" Louise asked as she began to feel sick. She wondered, in whatever afterlife she was in, if Jean was watching over her children.

"Our neighbor," Atticus chuckled softly. "Arthur Radley saved them."

Jean smiled to herself when she remembered the silly game Scout and Jem would play about their neighbor. At that moment she decided that Jean had been watching her children. "Did they arrest Bob?"

"He's dead."

"Jesus."

"They said he fell on his knife."

"He deserved it." She said bitterly as Atticus sighed again. "Are you alright?"

"I reckon so."

"Do…" She began, about to ask him if he would mind if she came back to Maycomb for a while, when she began hearing voice from upstairs. "Hold on a minute."

"Mm hmm." He responded as she removed the receiver from her face. Curiously, she listened to hear what was going on.

"Nanny, where are you goin'?" Libby asked groggily from the hallway.

"I need to prepare that lane cake for Eugenia." Edie responded firmly. _What_? "It needs to be ready for when she comes."

"Do you mean Aunt Jeannie?" Libby asked. "Nanny she—"

"Harriet I don't know what you're trying to play at but it's not funny." Her mother was now coming down the stairs.

"Atticus," she started as Edie made her way to her daughter. Edie was fully dressed and made up, as if it was the morning.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

"Hold on again, sorry." She said. "Edie what on Earth—"

"Is that Eugenia you're talkin' to?" Her mother demanded.

"Libby, get down here please." Louise called nervously. Quickly, her niece obeyed, looking just as apprehensive. "Edie I'm talkin' to Atticus."

"Did I wake her? I'm awfully sorry." She heard Atticus say.

"Ask him if Eugenia's there, I need to talk to her about tomorrow."

"Mama, Jean's been dead for seven years." Louise said slowly, staring at her mother as if she was crazy.

"What is going on?" Atticus asked, sounding more alert.

"Don't be foolish, Louise. She's comin' over tomorrow and I need to get started on that lane cake." With that, Edie had made her way into the kitchen. Quickly, Louise motioned for Libby to follow her.

"Don't let her touch anything, I'll be there in a minute." Louise whispered before Libby quickly went into the kitchen, calling after Edie.

"Atticus," she said again, even more confused than before.

"Is everything alright over there?"

"Edie came down, fully dressed saying that she needed to start that lane cake for Jean for tomorrow." Louise said. "She called Libby Harriet."

On the other end Atticus was silent. "It's after midnight," he said slowly. "Maybe she's sleepwalkin' or over-tired or something?"

"Maybe." She said furrowing her brow. "It's just odd."

"Do you think something's wrong?" He asked seriously.

"I don't know." She said. "I have no clue what's happening. I'm awfully sorry."

"Don't apologize."

"Are the kids alright?"

"They're fine."

"What about you?"

" _I'm_ fine."

She sighed, nervous by the lack of noise coming from the kitchen. "I'll call you tomorrow afternoon." She said. "To check up on everything. In a few days I'll come back to Maycomb to see y'all."

"I think after all of this, Jem and Scout would enjoy that _very_ much." He told her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Try to get some sleep." She said before hanging up the receiver. Perplexed, she looked around the room before scurrying into the kitchen. She was greeted by the sight of Libby blocking the cabinets with her body while Edie was looking angry. _Help_ Libby mouthed to Louise.

"Mama, what are you doin'?" She asked, genuinely concerned.

"I need to start makin' the lane cake for when Eugenia comes and Harriet is acting like a fool." Edie said bitterly.

"Mama, Jean's dead." Louise said again. Edie turned swiftly to face her daughter, looking downright appalled.

"That is a terrible thing to say about your sister." She said. "She's comin' tomorrow."

Resigned, Louise sighed. "Well, it's _late_." She protested. "I'll wake you up early tomorrow so the cake will be ready for Jean when she gets here."

Louise honestly didn't think that her playing along would work. Even when she wasn't sleepwalking (or whatever _this_ was) Edie was a stubborn woman who always did what she wanted. Louise was nearly tempted to allow her mother to proceed on and make the lane cake, but feared that Edie would fall asleep in the process and burn the house down or something. She hadn't realized how tired her mother looked until she said: "I suppose that's alright. I'll go take a nap."

Louise and Libby looked at one another in confusion. What time did Edie think it was? "Alright, you do that." Louise said, still looking at Libby. Once Edith had left the kitchen, Libby allowed her mouth to gape open.

"What…" Libby started.

"I honestly haven't a clue." Louise said slowly.

"Who called?" Libby asked, leaning against the counter and yawning.

"Your Uncle Atticus," She swallowed. "Jem and Scout were attacked tonight."

" _What?_ "

"He says they're fine." Louise said, rubbing her eyes. "I don't even know what's gotten to the world right now. I'm goin' to bed."

-o-o-o-

The next morning when Louise awoke, Edith was still asleep. While it was very unlike her mother to sleep in past quarter past five, Louise figured that her mother was simply tired being up and active all of the time. She paid no mind to it and went about her day. She ate breakfast with Libby before going to visit with Hattie and Aunt Addie for a large part of the afternoon. She reminisced on the events of the night prior and told her sister and her aunt both about what happened to Jean's children and Edie's strange behavior.

"It must've been a full moon last night," Hattie had said. "With that dastardly man and mama actin' so funny."

"I suppose it was." Louise said.

She hadn't arrived back home until it was nearly two in the afternoon. Her first matter of business was going to be calling Atticus to check in on how the children were doing. She supposed that in the next day or two she would make a trip to Maycomb to spend time with the children and to see if Atticus needed anything. Picking up the receiver, she said: "Maycomb, please." As she waited for the second operator to pick up, Libby came downstairs looking worried. "What's wrong?" She asked, pulling the receiver away from her mouth.

"Nanny's still sleepin'."

" _What_?"

Libby shrugged and Louise pushed the receiver towards her niece. "Ask for your Uncle Atticus, tell him I'll be there in a minute. I'm goin' to check on Edie."

As she nearly ran up the stairs, she heard Libby pleasantly ask: "Atticus Finch, please." Shortly after, she said: "Oh, Miss Alexandra how pleasant it is to hear your voice! Aunt Louise was callin' to check up on everything, but she needed to tend to nanny real quickly so I figured I would check in on everything. How are Jem and Scout?"

Libby's voice began to fade as Louise got closer to Edie's room. Firmly, she knocked on the closed door. "Edie?" She asked, pushing it open.

Her mother was still clothed in the dress she was wearing that night when she was convinced that Jean was coming to visit. She was barely under her duvet and was entirely too still. Louise's breath got caught in her throat as she went closer to her mother's bed. "Shit," she said softly, running a hand through her hair. "Shit, shit—Edie, Edie can you hear me?" She asked louder. Her mother didn't move.

"Shit!" She hissed as she frantically looked around her mother's bedroom, as if something in there could help her. "Edie!" She said, nearly yelling.

She pushed her mother's shoulder and her mother remained still. "For Christ's sake," she said, a hint of desperation in her voice. "Mama!" Now she was screaming. She didn't know what to do. Frantically, she pushed her hands on her mother's chest to see if she could feel her heartbeat, but she couldn't even tell. "Mama!" She shouted again, though she knew she wasn't going to get an answer.

"Libby!" She started hollering. "Libby hang up and call a doctor!"

At that point, Libby had already heard her aunt's previous screaming and had ran up to the hallway. "What's happening?" She asked frantically. Louise quickly left the room and shut the door behind her, not letting Libby in. She was breathing heavily and couldn't look at her niece.

"Something's wrong." She said before hurrying back to the phone.

-o-o-o-

When the doctor came, after having Louise explain to him what happened almost five times (much to her annoyance), he looked her over, checked for a pulse and shook his head. "She's got a pulse, but barely. I'm suspectin' she must've had a stroke or somethin'." He said grimly. "There isn't much for me to do here, we need to take her to the hospital."

The first thing she did was call Harriet, tasking her with the responsibility of calling the aunts and meeting her at the hospital. Then, everything else came as a blur for her. In hindsight, she barely remembered her, Libby and Edie arriving to the hospital. She only could recall that her mother didn't quiet look like herself and that the doctor there told Louise that Edie would most likely not last the week. He explained to her what had happened, but she was in too much shock to listen. Edie was supposed to outlive everyone.

She requested a cot be placed in Edie's room. Even though the doctor told her that Edie won't wake up, Louise wanted to be there anyway. The old, musty cot reminded her of the one that she and Jean would sleep in while they waited for their grandfather to die many years ago. This time, she insisted she lay on it alone.

It wasn't until it was nearly seven o'clock when Louise realized that she was supposed to call Atticus. With heavy eyes she looked around her mother's hospital room, told Harriet she had something to tend to, and slowly walked down the hall. Once she reached the nurse's station, she asked if they had a phone. When they informed her it was in the doctor's lounge and they usually didn't let patients use it, tears stung the back of her eyes. "I need to call my brother," she said, swallowing. "My mother's dying."

It was then Louise, who usually never cried, learned that if you cried at the right person you could get what you want. A kind old nurse, probably only a few years younger than Edie, gingerly took her arm and led her to the phone. "You take your time, honey." She said before looking at Louise solemnly and patting her arm.

Louise picked up the receiver, inhaled sharply and demanded: "Maycomb, Alabama." When the next operator picked up, she shakily asked for Atticus.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. They were terrible at picking up the phone, she thought to herself.

"Finch residence." Alexandra finally said coolly after what seemed to be an eternity.

She let out a shaky breath. "A-Alexandra?" She asked in a low voice.

"Louise?" She asked, sounding alert. "Louise what was happening earlier?"

She stood there in silence for a moment or two, her hands shaking. "Um," she said, sniffing.

"Honey are you alright?" Alexandra asked, sounding concerned. A few moments later she heard Alexandra testily say: " _Atticus, give me a_ minute _please_."

"Edie's dyin'." Louise croaked. Still clutching the receiver to her face, she let herself slide to the floor and cried.

"Honey, honey," Alexandra said, seemingly not knowing what else to say. "What happened honey?"

"I don't know," Louise sobbed. "I don't know but they told me but I wasn't listenin' but all they said was somethin' happened in her brain and she won't wake up." Breathing heavily, she realized just how _stupid_ she sounded.

"Honey," Alexandra said slowly. "Honey… we'll come to you."

She sobbed again. "The kids." Was all she could manage to say.

"They're fine." Alexandra said firmly. "I assure you they're fine."

Louise heard Atticus' voice, he must have been standing next to Alexandra. Quickly, she heard Alexandra tell him to be quiet for just a minute. "We'll come to you." She said again.

Louise sniffed. She heard Alexandra exhale on the other end. "Atticus wants to speak with you." She said gently, before handing the receiver to her brother.

"Louise?" He asked, sounding concerned. "Louise, what's going on over there?"

"Edie's dyin'," She cried again, covering her face with her free hand. "She's dyin' and I didn't even know it."

He was silent for a few minutes. "I'm sorry," he said delicately while she continued to cry on the other end. He cleared his throat. "Louise," he said, his voice a little firmer. "I'll collect the children and some belongings and we'll leave tonight."

"B-But Jem's arm and Bob Ewell," she sniffed, finding herself unable to come up with a coherent thought, let alone sentence.

"His arm's fractured, but he's fine." Atticus told her. "He was up and alert all day today, he's already getting restless in fact."

"They're probably exhausted."

"They're _fine_. Edith is not."

She sniffed again. "Damn it," she whispered. "I don't know what to do."

"Just stay with your mother, it won't take us long to get to Montgomery."

"I don't know if Aunt Sarah told Maudie," she thought aloud.

"I can tell Maudie." He said. "I can even bring her."

"You should at least wait until the morning, so you can rest."

"If Jean were alive, I wouldn't be on the phone right now, we'd already be on our way." He told her seriously. "Just because she isn't here doesn't make anything different. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Atticus?"

"Yes, Lou?"

"Thank you."

"There's nothing to thank me for. I'll be there as quick as I can." Sniffing, she stood up, hung up the receiver and collected herself before going back to Edie's room, where she found Aunt Addie and Sarah sitting by their sister's bedside, both looking beside themselves.

"I forgot how awful this feels," Sarah said. "It seems like Bea died so long ago."

Addie shot her younger sister a look. " _Be quiet_." She said sharply. "No one wants or needs to hear that."

"Where's Hattie and the girls?" Louise asked, her head feeling heavy as she leaned against the doorframe of the room.

Addie gave her niece a sympathetic look and beckoned for Louise to sit down. "She took Clara and Libby back to her place to get some sleep, she'll be back in a few minutes." In the rush of everything, the family nearly forgot to call Clara to inform her of Edith's sudden illness. Luckily, once Hattie remembered, Clara had been able to get herself to Montgomery as quickly as possible.

"Atticus is comin'." Louise informed them.

"When? Tomorrow?" Addie asked.

"Tonight."

"He doesn't need to do that," Addie said thoughtfully. "Why he probably already has a lot on his mind with what happened to the children."

"I told him that, he said that if Jean were here they would already be on their way by now." She said mournfully. "He said nothin's changed even though she's not here."

"He's always been quite the gentleman." Addie thought aloud, Sarah and Louise simply nodded.

Finally, Louise sunk into the chair next to her Aunt Sarah. "I told her I wouldn't cry when she died when I was eight." She said, looking towards her mother's still body on the bed.

"You were a _child_ , you didn't mean it." Addie said.

"I did back then."

"Obviously you don't anymore."

"I wish she knew that."

"Honey, she knows."

-o-o-o-

Because they arrived to Montgomery so late, Atticus, Alexandra, Maudie and the children were unable to go to the hospital to see Edie when they first arrived, but Louise and Harriet wouldn't see them until the morning anyway. It took a great deal of pleading and tears on behalf of both sisters to be able to get a cot placed next to Edie's bed for them to sleep on for the night. Usually, the hospital would make families leave at eight-thirty, but the nurses bent the rules after seeing how desperate the sisters were. That night, they laid in the cot together, unable to sleep. It reminded her of when she and Jean would sleep in that cot next to their grandfather, back when Louise had only been eighteen, and it made her cry harder.

"Remember when daddy died?" Hattie asked quietly, out of nowhere.

"Yes'm."

"I barely do."

"You were little."

"Remember when Simon died?"

Louise shuddered. "Of course I do."

"I always thought it ironic that his neck snapped and Charlotte's nearly did when she died."

Louise sniffed. "I thought that, too."

"I bet Charlotte was glad she died."

"She probably was."

"I wonder if Jean knew what was comin'." Hattie said softly. "I wonder if that day she woke up, thought _this is the day I'm goin' to die_ and just…died."

"I feel like if she knew she would've gone to the doctors or somethin'." Louise said. "She's not one to accept something like that."

"You know," Hattie said as she turned to lay on her back. "I don't know what heaven or afterlife or whatever is but I think that Charlotte and Jean are sittin' together in some place that makes 'em happy, watchin' us and talkin' about how we're being babies."

Louise forced herself to chuckle. "And daddy's not too far away talkin' about how all four of us have been crazy and he just wanted to shake us all so many times and Aunt Bea is makin' sweet tea or something and Simon's runnin' around playing."

Hattie laughed and sobbed at the same time. "And Edie's comin' up to them, tellin' them all to stop sittin' around and to do something productive."

Instead of sleeping, the sisters cried together.

-o-o-o-

Edie died four days after she had been brought to the hospital. The entire time, Louise knew it was going to happen, but there was still a part of her that hoped and wished that her mother would wake up. She had grown so delirious that she had even thought that she saw her mother breathing at one point. On the day Edie died, she called Jack.

"Finch," was all he had said when he answered the phone.

"Edie died." She said bluntly, rubbing at her nose.

"I knew that." He responded. "Atticus told me. D'you want me to come?"

"No."

"Then why did you call me?"

"Edie died." She said again, sighing.

"If you're just going to say the same thing over and over I'm goin' to hang up on you until you come back to your senses." He told her.

"I lied to you."

"About what?"

"I want you to come."

"I knew that, I already got my ticket for tomorrow."

"Are you teasing me?"

"I swear I'm not. I went and got the ticket soon as Atticus called me."

"Then why did you ask if I wanted you to come?"

"'Cause I already knew the answer."

"You're awful."

"Why do you sound so _sad_?" He asked, almost distastefully.

She opened her mouth, almost repeating what she had said before. Instead, she remained silent. "Girl," he said, clicking his tongue. "Do you know what your mother would say to you right now?"

"What?"

"Quit your sulkin' and go do somethin'."

She inhaled sharply. "You are completely useless."

"You sound like a mess."

"If you're tryin' to make me feel worse, it's workin'."

"Now I'm not tryin' to do that," He said, his voice softening a little. "I'm tryin' to bring you to reality. It's what I'm here for."

She remained silent on the other end. He sighed. "Honey," he said. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Do you want me to bring Rose to cheer you up?" He asked, and she imagined him sitting in his apartment smirking.

"Hell no."

"There's my gal." He said. "Honey, you of all people should know that we all have our time to leave this Earth."

"That doesn't make this any easier."

"I never said it was easy."

After she called him, she roamed around Edie's house for a while. Her and Hattie had begun to clean it out in preparation for putting it on the market, and it all seemed a little too empty for her. The pictures were removed from the walls (Louise had found the postcards she sent her mother while she was traveling hanging in the kitchen, and she took them and hid them for herself), and most of Edie's possessions were packed away. The only rooms that weren't touched were Clara and Libby's, Edie's, and Charlotte and Jean's. Silently, while Atticus and Alexandra helped Hattie and the aunts pack up the living room, Louise went to sit in Jean's room one last time. There, she found Jem and Scout sitting on their mother's old bed.

It was alarming to Louise how much older Scout and Jem had looked to her. It couldn't have been more than two months since she had last seen them, yet they looked old. It was as though the trial, Bob Ewell and the death of their grandmother had changed them. For a few minutes she stood silently in the doorway, observing them as they sat with their backs facing her. Inhaling slowly, she finally said: "Your mama would be awfully proud of the two of you."

Both children jumped, and turned to see her standing in the doorway. They had been crying. She wondered if Jem had ever told his sister about the day their mama died. "Why?" Scout asked innocently.

"For everything." Louise responded, sitting on Charlotte's bed across from them. "She would be proud of every single thing you have done."

"Aunt Louise?" Jem asked, his eyes glazed from crying, his casted arm laying on his lap. "You aren't goin' to go runnin' again, are you?"

Alarmed, she looked at her nephew. "What do you mean, sweet?"

"After mama and Uncle Phil died you went to Europe for two years," He said, making her feel a pang of guilt. Jack was right, _everyone_ knew she'd been running away. "I just don't want you to do that again."

"Can you stay in Maycomb, Aunt Lou?" Scout asked. "I'm sure Aunty will behave herself."

She let out a shuddering breath. "I ain't goin' anywhere."

-o-o-o-

Louise had thought that the longest funeral she had ever attended was Jean's. She hadn't slept the night before and had spent the entire service trying not to cry (she failed in those efforts once Jem began crying). However, seven years later she found that Edie's funeral had gone by entirely too slowly. She had spent so much time before the funeral crying that by the time the actual funeral came, she found she couldn't cry. She sat there, in between Hattie and Jack, just staring straight ahead of her the entire time.

After the funeral was over, she and Hattie remained where Edie had been buried. She wasn't the first of their family to be buried there, and she certainly wouldn't be the last. She watched as Scout looked at the gravestones on their family plot. There was Charlotte and Simon, a spot for Phil, Edie and Rowan (Louise's father), Bea and then Jean. There was copious space near Jean's grave, indicating that one day Atticus and the children and their families would be buried there, too. Louise wondered if Alexandra put up a fight when it came to where Jean was going to be buried. It wasn't like that was going to matter though, anyway. Edie was adamant that her family be buried together.

"Eugenia Graham Finch," Scout read aloud. She turned her head to look at her aunts. "Is that mama?"

"It is," Atticus said, making Louise and Hattie jump. They hadn't noticed him standing behind them.

Scout turned again to look at her mother's grave. "Are you gonna be buried here, Atticus?" She asked him, not turning around.

"I am, baby." He replied.

"And you two?" Scout asked her aunts.

"Mm hmm, me and your Uncle Scott will be buried here." Hattie replied, sounding as though her throat was raw.

"I'll be right next to your Uncle Phil." Louise responded.

"Am _I_ goin' to be buried here?"

"Yes." Said Atticus.

"And Jem?"

"Him too." Her father informed her.

"Then it'd be like all of mama's family is together again," Scout said as she turned to smile at her aunts. Louise felt her throat tighten.

"You're very right, Jean Louise." Louise said, smiling back at her niece. While her niece's eyes lit up, she also gave Louise a perplexed look—it had been the first time Louise called Scout by her proper name since she had been born. Scout turned back around and sat by her mother's grave.

"I'm gonna sit with mama for a little while." She said, again observing what was engraved on the tomb stone.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Hattie asked, wringing her hands.

"I think mama would like that."

"I do too, baby." Louise said as she and Hattie sat with Scout. Looking behind her shoulder, she observed Atticus. He was standing with his hands in his pockets, watching them. When he noticed Louise looking at him, he gave her a small smile and mouthed: "I'll be back," before he walked away.

It was the first time in seven years she had been to her sister's grave.

-o-o-o-

After the service, family and friends gathered at Aunt Addie's house to remember Edie. For a moment Louise had forgotten that this was Edie's funeral, and had gone off looking for something to do before her mother caught her being "useless." When she realized her mother wouldn't chastise her for not doing anything, she found herself feeling too restless to stand still and still wanted to find something to do. Almost naturally, she decided to serve guests their drinks.

Edie usually made the punch they served at these memorial things, but considering the fact that she was no longer alive to do so, Sarah had done it. Louise couldn't help but to think that it looked different. However, the last time she had done this was nearly twelve years ago when Charlotte died and she couldn't remember that day too clearly. Solemnly, she poured punch into glasses and stiffly nodded her head while people clasped her hands and told her how sorry they were. She encountered Emmett, girls she had gone to school with, Edie's old friends and people she couldn't even recognize. Despite the fact that these people were genuinely being kind, she refused to listen to them.

After a few moments of observing her, Alexandra approached Louise. Louise smiled weakly and offered her a glass, which she had denied. Instead, Alexandra stood beside her and began to help. "I think Jean was under the impression I didn't like her." Alexandra then said, out of nowhere.

"Um," Louise said, swallowing.

"It's not that I didn't," Alexandra continued, as if this was completely normal. "I really did. I never thought I would ever see anyone make my brother as happy as she made him. We were just so different and I guess I didn't know how to approach her."

"Why are you sayin' this?" Louise asked, confused. Alexandra looked at her, and although she was smiling her eyes looked sad.

"I never told her that I loved her, which I did," Alexandra said slowly. "I never let her know that I truly did care about her."

"I'm sure she had an inkling or something." Louise said, trying to reassure her.

"I didn't want to make that mistake again," Alexandra informed her as she carefully poured punch into empty glasses. "Despite the fact that we are two entirely different people, I care about you."

Louise's eyes widened. "Alexandra," she started before the other woman interrupted her.

"I mean it." She said firmly. "You're important to my family, and I care about you."

"I meant it when I said I was sorry for yellin' at you." Louise said, still not quite sure if this was real or merely a hallucination. "You're a nice lady and I do like you."

Alexandra gave her another sad smile and pulled her into an awkward hug. Not knowing what to do, Louise patted Alexandra's arm before she let go of her. Once Alexandra had finished hugging Louise, she noticed Jack standing by the table, looking wildly amused.

"Ha! Am I interrupting something?" He chuckled. The smile that had once been on Alexandra's face disappeared.

"Don't you dare start." His sister warned as he just shook his head at her, her face flushed.

"Kid, stop pouring that punch and come outside with me." He said to Louise. Obligingly, she followed him to the back porch.

"Are you done yet?" He asked her impatiently.

"Done what?"

"Bein' so stupid."

She inhaled sharply and glared at him. "How in the hell am I bein' stupid?"

"You're huggin' my sister and listein' to what I tell you to do, first of all." He informed her. "When the old you would've thought that Alexandra was crazy and would've told me to go to hell for tellin' you what to do."

"There is no old me," she informed him. "I am as I always have been."

"Maybe if you keep sayin' that people will actually believe you."

"What do you want?" She asked impatiently, crossing her arms. "My mother's dead—"

"Mine is too and you don't see me getting' soft."

"I'm _not_ soft—"

"You have been ever since Jean died. Admit it."

"I'm sorry if the death of my sister and my best friend changed—"

"That didn't change you. You changed yourself, you let yourself get soft. Whatever happened to the girl who punched me in the face in Atticus' living room one Christmas because I annoyed you?"

"She's right here."

"I think you left her in Europe." Jack said firmly. "Actually, I think you left her in Jean's grave."

"What the _hell_ do you want from me?"

"I just want you to admit you're soft."

Feeling insulted, she scoffed. "Fine, I'm soft." She said, hoping it would shut him up.

"I want you to actually acknowledge it."

She sighed. "You're downright mean."

"Mean? _Mean_? The old you—"before he could finish, she winded up and attempted to punch him in the chest as hard as she could. She wasn't sure if she had hurt her hand or his chest more, but once she saw him rubbing at his chest, she knew she at least made some damage.

"The old me would've _what_?" She asked bitterly. Addie, who had gone to the kitchen to fetch more napkins, had seen the entire thing through the window and came rushing outside.

"What is goin' on?" She asked, almost angrily. Louise felt her face flush hot.

"Nothin'," She said hastily. "We're just havin' ourselves a little conversation."

"Everything's fine, ma'am." Jack said, still rubbing at his chest. Looking concerned, Addie glanced at both of them before retreating back into the house.

"You gonna leave again?" Jack asked.

"Why do you care?"

"You probably will, you're infamous for running from your problems."

"Why are you bein' so _awful_?"

"Listen," he said firmly. "In some twisted way you're my best friend, and I'm just tryna make sure you don't go tryna self-destruct again. You spend so much time harpin' on the fact that your older sisters, your husband and your mama are all dead you forget you're alive. You just run off and hide from everything. That ain't a way to live."

Her throat tightened, and for some inexplicable reason tears began to form in her eyes. Rubbing at them, she tried to turn away from Jack but he stopped her. "Why're you cryin'?" He asked her.

Looking down at her feet, she whispered: "'Cause you're right."

"Aha!" Jack nearly shouted, making her jump. "Say it louder."

She sniffed and glared at him. "Jack, really—"

"Just say it once and say it loud." He grinned. Sometimes she really wanted to hate him.

"Because you're right." She said, crossing her arms. A few tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't bother to wipe them.

"So you admit you ran away?"

"I already said it twice, ain't that enough for you?"

"Ha, I suppose it is."

"I'm going back inside."

"Wait," he said, still holding onto her shoulder.

" _What_?"

"I can retire in a year," he said, almost proudly. "I can buy a nice little two-bedroom in Maycomb and you can live with me and Rose. I was already goin' to move down there to be closer to the family, and Atticus was plannin' on asking you to live with him, but I figured you might want some other options. Especially considerin' you and Zandra may kill each other if forced to cohabitate for too long."

Confused, she simply looked at him. "Unless you want to go back to Europe or something." He said, shrugging. "If I can bring Rose, I guess it'll be fine with me."

"What the hell are you doin'?" She asked, her voice rising. "If you're tryna—"

"I'm not tryna marry you or anything!" He said, almost sounding appalled. "God knows I wouldn't survive it. All I'm sayin' is that even though we ain't meant to be with anyone doesn't mean we're supposed to be alone. I figured this might make you feel better. You don't need to say yes—"

"Alright." She said coolly.

"Maycomb or France?" He asked, an impish grin growing on his face.

"Maycomb. I told the kids I wouldn't leave."

"Thank God, because if you said France I'd have to take back my offer."

"You're the devil."

"It'll be great, you'll be the spinster you always wanted to be and I can still live in eternal bachelorhood."

"That damn cat can't come near me."

"You'll need to be much nicer to her if you expect to live under _her_ roof." Jack teased.

Quickly, Louise wiped at her eyes before turning around. "I'm goin' back inside."

-o-o-o-

After the guests had left and all of the casseroles and other food stuffs had been organized and put away, an eerie silence settled over the house. Clara and Libby, who were now staying with Hattie, had gone to their new home to sleep. Alexandra and Jack had gone back to Sarah's house with Maudie while Louise, Atticus, Jem and Scout had gone to Addie's. Immediately after getting home, Addie had gone up to her room. Once the children were in the pajamas, Atticus had tucked them in and went to sit on the porch. Louise, still in her funeral clothes, paced about the house. It wasn't until Addie had stuck her head out of the crack in her bedroom door and told her to stop her fidgeting that she decided to join her brother-in-law on the porch. He was sitting on a wicker chair, observing the neighborhood around him. Slowly, she crossed the porch and sat in the chair next to him. Smiling, he looked at her.

"I'm surprised you aren't asleep." He pointed out.

"Not tired," Louise lied.

"Jack told me that the two of you will be living in Rose Aylmer's house once he retires," Atticus said, chuckling a little. This time, she smiled at him. "It'll be good to have you in Maycomb permanently."

"It'll be nice to be there." She said.

"I always thought it was bizarre how everything just goes on like normal once someone dies." He said quietly, looking away from her. "It's like your entire world is collapsing around you, yet people keep on livin'."

"I guess that's life."

"So it is."

They both went silent again. While Atticus observed his surroundings once more, Louise began to pick at the chipping paint on the arm of her chair. After a few moments, Atticus cleared his throat. Still picking at the paint, Louise looked at him. "I wonder if Edith saw her," he said thoughtfully.

"Saw who?"

"Jean," he said slowly. Probably noticing the look of confusion on Louise's face, he added: "she said she was getting ready for Jean to visit, didn't she?"

Louise sat up. "She did."

"I usually don't believe these things, but maybe your mother wasn't losin' it, but Jean came to let her know that Edie's time was comin'."

"Maybe she did." Louise responded contemplatively.

Atticus smiled again and looked away from his sister-in-law. "When it's my time, I hope she comes for me, too."

Louise smiled and looked at the neighborhood she had grown up in. "If your children taught me anything, it's that she's with us every day," she responded. "But I do think she'll come for you."

Atticus' smile grew slightly bigger as he let out a soft chuckle. Louise smiled back, and for the first time in a long time she felt at peace.


	12. Epilogue

A/N: It took me some time to think about how exactly I wanted to end this, so I hope that this gives you all _some_ closure! As I said before, I kind of left this in a spot where I could explore the plot further if I really wanted to at a future date. However, as for right now I'll probably be quite dormant when it comes to putting new stuff up, though I'll still be reading as much as possible :D. I just wanted to thank everyone so much for reading this and for all of the feedback I've gotten!

-o-o-o-

When he was sixteen, Jem's heart stopped beating during a football game. It was one of the last home games of the season, and the entire family had gone to see him play. He was running, and all of a sudden he just fell. It wasn't until they took him away in a stretcher that anyone had realized how serious it actually was. Fortunately for him, they were able to revive him with some sort of electric paddles that made Louise shudder. She didn't actually see them revive Jem, but Atticus did and had admitted to his sister-in-law that he thought that Jem was surely dead after that ordeal.

But he wasn't. A miracle had definitely occurred that evening. Even though Jem's heart had stopped for almost two minutes, they were able to save him, and he would be able to return to his normal life. As a result of his scare, he was confined to the hospital for nearly two weeks afterwards for them to run tests. The same tests that Harriet was urging Louise to take each time they spoke to one another.

However, Louise still refused. It didn't matter that her father and two older sisters died from heart disease, or that Harriet (and now Jem) would probably have to take medication for the rest of their lives, Louise was still adamant in letting things happen the way they were supposed to. As she had always said, if she was meant to die of a heart attack, then that is how she would go. Though, it didn't seem like that was going to happen. She didn't have chest pains, shortness of breath, or any of the symptoms that Hattie had been complaining of. Her heart didn't seem to beat irregularly, and as far as she knew, she was fine (though whenever she said this to Jack he would scoff and call her an idiot since she wasn't a doctor).

For most of her adulthood, Louise had believed that Edie was meant to outlive everyone. But once they nearly lost Jem, Louise realized that maybe it was _her_ that was going to outlive her family. Once Edie died Louise had done very well at moving on with her life, but sometimes a dark day would rear its ugly head and her mind would be full of thoughts of her being alone. At one time in her life, she thought that maybe she'd enjoy being alone, that it was what was meant for her. However, once she moved to Maycomb she realized she never wanted to be alone again.

After his brush with death, Jem became more reclusive. Unable to play football for the rest of the year, Jem instead camped himself in his room once school was over and wouldn't leave unless it was time for supper. Given how vivacious Jem had always been, this caused his family to worry—especially Jean Louise.

Jean Louise stopped going by the name Scout the moment she entered the sixth grade. She declared that her childhood nickname was too juvenile and she wanted to be taken more seriously by the girls in her class. Alexandra had been right all along—Jean Louise was growing interest in how she looked and making friends with girls her age. She no longer put up a fight when it came time for her to wear dresses, though she still embraced some of her tomboy tendencies. At first, Louise couldn't help but to think she had suffered another loss, she personally did not think this day would come so soon. However, Louise was grateful for one thing: Jean Louise never stopped asking about her mother. Whenever she was alone with her niece, Jean Louise would continue to ask a plethora of questions about Jean. The two of them would spend hours talking about Jean, and while it used to make Louise sad to think of her deceased sister, she now felt more at peace.

Despite the fact that Jean Louise was growing up, she still held her brother at an extremely high regard. She asked him for advice on every possible thing, whether it be how to dress, how to act, or how to not look annoying to the boys in her grade. Louise was nervous for she thought that one day Jem was going to snap at his sister and attempt to wring her neck or something. But he didn't. With age, Jem had seemed to develop more patience for his younger sister and was always more than willing to assist her with any questions or worries she might have. Louise was proud—he reminded her more and more of Jean with each passing day.

Almost losing Jem seemed to change Jean Louise, too. She became needier, but only towards Jem (as soon as he came home from the hospital it was almost as if her other family members no longer existed). She would pine around his room, and sometimes he would let her in and the two of them would spend hours talking in hushed voices. Louise could tell it worried Atticus immensely, though he said nothing of it.

Since moving to Maycomb permanently with Jack in 1937, Louise lived a settled and peaceful life. She couldn't help but to think that if Edie was still alive she would shake her head and say: "see, Louise? I told you that you'd be far happier once you just _settled_." For once, Louise wished her mother was around just so she could admit that Edie was right for the first (and last) time. She enjoyed the fact that she had friendly companionship and had the ability to do whatever she wanted, though the people in town were full of speculations. Despite the fact that her and Jack slept in separate rooms and had no romantic inklings towards one another at all, they were constantly being told they were living in sin. Whenever she was in town or having lunch with the ladies, Louise heard a plethora of different rumors about her and Jack (her favorite one was that they were hiding an illegitimate child in their basement). When they ate their supper together (with Rose Aylmer at the table of course), Louise and Jack would simply laugh at these rumors together. While normal people would've been offended, the pair did their best fuel the fire, knowing that they were tormenting everyone around them (especially Alexandra).

In her youth, Louise feared routine and normalcy. Now she thrived on it. She no longer cared that her days were almost identical to one another. She far preferred the companionship she had in Maycomb over the adventures she thought she was having in the past. She found it funny how her life had changed so drastically, but she couldn't complain about her circumstances one bit. Sometimes at night before she went to bed she would be brought to laughter over the thought of how Jean would react to her sister's present lifestyle. Louise couldn't help but to think that Jean would tease her and call her soft, but she didn't care, she could now proudly admit that she had gone soft.

One evening while Jack and Louise sat in the living room reading (the two of them had enough books to never be bored), Jean Louise stormed through the front door and planted herself on the sofa, burying her head in the cushion. The first thing that Jack and Louise had decided when they moved to Maycomb was that their door would always be open to Jem and Scout if they should ever need their aunt or uncle. Jem and Scout came nearly every day, especially in the summer, so their presence was never necessarily a surprise. Jack, who never knew how to approach Jean Louise once the girl had gotten her period, stood up and left his book on the chair. "I'm gonna walk Rose," he told Louise, winking. Louise scowled at him in response, put her own book down and joined her niece on the sofa.

"Well, aren't you just a beacon of light today?" Louise teased as Jean Louise groaned. "What is up with you?"

Slowly, her niece sat up. Her face was red and it seemed as though a permanent glare was etched on her face. "Atticus and Aunty want me to get the same tests that Jem got done for his heart." She said bitterly.

That past week after church, Atticus had off-handedly mentioned to Louise and Jack that he was going to set up an appointment for Scout for her to get her heart checked out. He figured that since Jem was starting to have problems so young, it was best that Scout get checked out now so that she wasn't in the same position as her brother. Jack and Louise had both adamantly agreed with Atticus, which then prompted Jack to call Louise a hypocrite for not getting herself tested (she responded by kicking him in the shin as hard as she could).

"Well, I reckon that isn't too bad." Louise said, and Scout furrowed her brow.

" _You_ say you won't go to the doctors," her niece retorted, making Louise scowl.

"That's different." Louise said quickly.

"No it ain't."

"I'm not going to argue with you about it," Louise said firmly. "What is so wrong with you getting tested? You saw how sick Jem got—do you want to get like that?"

"Well no," Jean Louise replied, shuffling around in her seat. "But…"

"But what?"

Jean Louise now looked embarrassed. Her cheeks flushed and grew redder as she looked down at her feet. "Well, Jem said…" Jean Louise started before changing her mind. "Never mind."

"Jem said what, honey?"

Jean Louise sighed as she looked back up at her aunt, this time looking sad. "Jem said when he thought he was dyin' he saw mama."

Louise's breath got caught in her throat as she looked at Jean Louise with a perplexed expression on her face. "What?" She asked, making Jean Louise sigh.

"It's stupid," her niece mumbled, looking away.

"It's not, elaborate please." Louise said quickly as Jean Louise slouched herself deep into the couch cushion.

"Jem told me that when his heart stopped during that football game that he saw mama and she told him that he could stay with her or go back to me and Atticus, and then he came back." Scout said quickly. Maybe that had been the reason why Jem had decided to seclude himself from the rest of his family.

"What does that have to do with you getting tested, sweet?" Louise asked slowly.

"Well," Scout said, and Louise could tell that her niece was embarrassed by what she was about to say. "I just hadn't seen mama in so long…I just thought that maybe I could see her, but come back like Jem did."

Louise looked at Jean Louise sadly. "Come here," she said, pulling her niece into a stiff hug. "Honey, I don't advise you do that."

"Why not?"

"Sweet, you'd get very sick."

"So?"

"I honestly don't think your mama would want you to risk your life, when you have so much ahead of you, just to see her for two minutes." Louise admitted. "I think she'd rather see you when you're supposed to—"

"You always say if you're supposed'ta have a heart attack, you'll—"

"Honey, I'm nearly forty. You're twelve, you haven't even done everything you're supposed to do yet." Louise said firmly.

"I've done plenty."

Louise scowled at Jean Louise. "Honey, you've barely done anything. Your mama would want you to graduate high school, to go to college or somethin', to get married—"

Jean Louise scoffed. "I ain't never getting married." She declared, and Louise's immediate reaction was the grin.

"Fine, you're supposed to become a spinster or somethin' crazy." Louise said, still smiling. "But it'd be awfully foolish if you let yourself get sick like Jem did. Hell, I bet if Jem had a choice, he'd rather get tested than nearly die playin' football."

Scout leaned her head back on the cushion. "I reckon you're right." She mumbled, the look of discontent off of her face.

"I know I'm right," Louise winked. "So are you gonna listen to your daddy, or is Jack going to have to knock you out so we can take you to the doctors."

Jean Louise laughed. "I ain't lettin' him come near me with anything," she declared, making Louise chuckled. "I reckon I'll go."

"I'm sure that'll make your daddy feel awfully relieved," Louise told her niece. "I think he's been mighty worried about you and Jem."

"Will you come?" Jean Louise asked.

"Of course, I'll sit there with you—"

"I mean will you get tested with me?" She amended as Louise forced herself not to scowl at her niece.

She pretended to look like she was thinking for a few moments, though she already knew what her answer was going to be. "No, sweet." She said. "I'm not gonna do it."

A smirk grew on Jean Louise's face as she crossed her arms. " _Mama_ wouldn't want you to go before you had to." She said firmly. _Damn it_ , Louise thought to herself, before smirking back at Jean Louise.

"Hell," she said, rolling her eyes. "I never listened much to her, anyway."

 _End_.


End file.
